Time For a Change
by LoriLynn1
Summary: Hermione Granger and Pansy Parkinson have a Potions mishap and end up switching bodies with one another. Because their Potion grade is at stake, they are forced to go along with these roles until the antidote is made. 6th year, multiple pairings
1. Chapter 1 The Switch

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of the characters in this story. Everything except the story idea itself belongs to JK Rowling.

**Author's Note**: This was my 2006 NaNoWriMo Project, and it's successfully 50,000 words so far! I wrote most of this story all the way through without stopping to go back, and will be posting 1 chapter a week while I edit the thing! Enjoy! (and leave feedback?)

**Time for a Change  
Chapter One  
Lori Finnegan  
2006**

Hermione Granger walked swiftly down the hallways of the dungeon, her hair blowing past her ears as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley flanked her.

"It's all your fault we're late," she scolded them over the clicking of their shoes on the cold dungeon floor.

"Our fault?" Ron protested. "Don't blame us for being late when clearly it was your fault!"

"Ron is right," Harry concurred. "If it wasn't for you, getting all caught up in chapter eight of your potions text, you would have reminded us that it was almost time for class, and we would be sitting in our seats at this very second."

"Boys," Hermione sighed just as they arrived at Professor Snape's classroom door. Quietly, she turned the doorknob and entered the room, Harry and Ron just behind her.

Professor Snape, who had been in mid-sentence, snapped his book shut and stared at the three tardy students. "Please," he said, his voice booming. "Let us all stop this lesson so that Potter and friends can take their seats."

"Sorry, Professor," Hermione muttered while they rushed to their seats and carefully set their books on top of their desks.

"I don't think so, Miss Granger," Snape said, just as Hermione was about to sit down. "You'll be joining Miss Parkinson today. Her potions partner is absent. Also, I'd like to see what Potter and Weasley can do without your help today."

Hermione heard Harry and Ron sigh in disappointment, but she moved over to the other side of the room and took a seat next to Pansy Parkinson anyway.

Snape went on in his lecture, and Hermione made sure to take more notes than usual. Sitting on the Slytherin side of the room set her on edge. It was half way through the lecture, when Hermione felt something small hit the back of her head. When she went to feel the spot where it had hit, her fingers found a small wad of paper lodged in her bushy hair. She pulled it out and unfolded it in her lap.

'Nice going, Mudblood.'

Hermione didn't even need to turn around and look to know that Draco Malfoy was sitting behind her with a smug smirk on his face. Instead of getting angry, she just crumbled up the note and shoved it into her bag. She wasn't going to let him get the best of her.

"Okay, class," Snape said, shooting a look at Hermione, as if he knew she had been reading a note. "I want you to try this potion yourselves with your partners. All of the ingredients are in the cabinets. I trust you can find them yourselves."

Hermione tried not to sigh out loud as she looked over at her new potions partner. "So," she said slowly. "We better get started."

Pansy didn't look like she had been paying much attention to Snape during the lecture, and now, she looked more than disinterested. "Yeah," she agreed.

Hermione stood up and went down to the cabinets where Harry and Ron where already gathering their supplies.

"Sucks to be you," Ron grinned as he grabbed a small bottle of crows toenails. "Nothing's worse than working with a Slytherin."

"What was that, Weasley?" Professor Snape's voice said from behind him.

Ron almost dropped his bottles. "Um… I said…"

Hermione knew he was doomed. Nothing rhymed with Slytherin.

"Collect your ingredients and get back in your seat," Snape said, watching as Harry grabbed a few more bottles and bags, and the two of them hurried back to their chairs.

Hermione carefully selected her ingredients under Snape's watchful eye. She was determined not to let any Slytherin, especially the head Slytherin, get to her. She didn't even look at him as she turned around and walked back to her seat.

Back at her place, Pansy hadn't even moved. Hermione wondered if she would have to do all of the work for the both of them. She spread the ingredients out on her desk and took her cauldron out of her bag. She didn't want to offend the other girl, but she was seriously mistaken if she thought Hermione would be giving her a free ride.

"Would you like to help?" she asked politely.

"Sure," Pansy said, as if she couldn't care less about the potion.

"It's really simple," Hermione said, adding two ingredients into the cauldron. "You just add them in order and mix them together."

"I'm not stupid," Pansy muttered. It was her longest statement so far.

"I didn't say you were…" Hermione said slowly. "Honestly, I was just trying to make conversation since you weren't saying much of anything at all."

"Ah," Pansy said as she got up from her desk and grabbed a cup by Hermione's cauldron. "I'll go get the water."

"Okay," Hermione replied, half stunned. Pansy was actually going to do her part after all.

When Pansy returned, she poured the water into the cauldron and then sat back down as Hermione stared at the gloppy liquid. "Um, Pansy…" she said, pushing the empty bottles aside. "How much water did you have there?"

"Two liters, why?" Pansy folded her arms over her chest.

"Because this potion only requires one liter!" Hermione hissed softly so that Professor Snape wouldn't be aware of their little mishap.

They both stared at the glop as one bubble surfaced and popped.

In a panic, Hermione pulled her text book from her bag and flipped through it. "If you add two liters…" she said, making her way towards chapter nine. "Then it makes a completely different potion!"

Pansy leaned over Hermione's shoulder and gazed down at her book as Hermione found the page she had been searching for. "What potion does it make?"

"Let's see… one liter, one point five liters, one point seven five liters, two point five liters… wait a second. It just completely skipped over two liters!"

"How are you girls doing?"

Hermione slammed her book shut as Professor Snape approached their desks. She grabbed her spoon and stuck it into the slop, stirring it quickly so that maybe he would miss the fact that they had a bit too much liquid. "Just fine, Professor," she smiled.

"Oh, is that so? Pansy, is all well from your perspective?" Professor Snape said, not missing a beat.

"Why yes, Professor." Pansy's smile was just as bright as Hermione's.

Snape stood over their cauldron as Hermione stirred, gazing down at its contents. He smirked as he walked a little past their desks. "Then you won't mind if I use your potion as an example when the rest of the class has finished," he said.

Hermione stared at his back, terrified.

"Of course not, Professor," Pansy grinned.

"Excellent. Continue on."

Hermione gaped at her potions partner. "We're doomed!"

"Oh, please," Pansy rolled her eyes. "What's a little extra water gonna do?"

Hermione didn't say anything. She didn't want to know what kind of potion they had made.

Ten excruciating minutes later, all of the other groups had finished with their potions as well, and Professor Snape took his spot back at his podium. "Attention, class," he said, "I hope that all of you have completed your potions. I will now select several potions to test. Those students who have their potions tested will receive their grades for the week based on the results. The rest of you will receive your grades during tomorrow's class."

Hermione gulped. She knew that they would be called first.

"Now let's see whose potions managed the desired effect," Snape went on. "Granger, Parkinson… you're up first."

Pansy lifted two cups and held them while Hermione scooped up some of the potion and poured it into the cups.

"What color is your potion for, Granger?" Snape demanded.

"Green," she replied. And if they had any luck, the nasty concoction would turn them green regardless. She just feared what else it might do…

Professor Snape gave a sigh of irritation. "Well, what are you two waiting for? Bottoms up!"

Hermione and Pansy took one glance at each other and then downed the slop as quickly as they could. Hermione waited patiently as she felt the potion go down her throat and coat the linings of her stomach. She looked at her hands to see if she was turning green.

Unfortunately, neither Hermione nor Pansy turned green at that moment. Hermione sighed and looked to Professor Snape to hear just how bad grade would be.

"I'm giving the two of you a D," Snape announced. "Only because your little potion didn't have any ill effects. And I'll be seeing both of you in detention this evening at seven o'clock sharp to make a corrected potion. And if this goes well, I may give you a C, but I wouldn't hold your breath."

Hermione sat down and looked sadly at her lap as Snape moved onto the next group. It was then that she noticed that her yellow and red tie looked surprisingly black and green. How in the world did she end up with…

Pansy's hand grabbed her left arm. But wait a second… hadn't Pansy been sitting on her right just a second ago?

She looked up to see…

Herself?

Hermione reached out to move the mirror out of the way, but only ended up poking herself in the eye.

"Ouch!" her reflection hissed.

Hermione sat, frozen, staring at the image of herself. This could only mean one thing; the potion in fact did have an ill effect. The ill effect was the worst effect that Hermione could ever imagine.

She had switched places with Pansy Parkinson.

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After class had ended, Hermione carefully picked up Pansy's books and put them into Pansy's bag. She turned her head and made eye contact with Pansy. "Meet me in the far right corner in the library in thirty minutes," she hissed.

Pansy nodded, shoving Hermione's stuff into her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "What am I supposed to do till then?"

Hermione leaned close so that no one else would hear their conversation. "Go with Harry and Ron. Tell them you have a big test to study for, and you don't know how long you'll be."

"Got it," Pansy nodded again. "And you… I told Draco I'd help him with his Transfiguration essay before dinner. Tell him you don't feel well, and you're going to the nurse. We'll meet at the library and figure this out."

"Deal." Hermione turned to move out from her desk when a hand clapped over her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Draco said, forcing her to face him. "I thought you were gonna help me with my essay."

Hermione panicked. How long had he been standing there, and how much of their conversation did he hear? "Um…" She turned to look at Pansy, but she was already headed over in Harry and Ron's direction.

"Hey, I don't know what Granger did to your potion, but ouch. I hope Snape changes your grade during detention. That's gotta hurt," Draco went on. "But till then, let's work on our essays. I'm stuck on the concept of this one."

"Listen… Draco…" the name sounded stale on her tongue, but if she was going to have to be Pansy for awhile, she might as well get used to saying it. Apparently the two were friends… and pretty close ones it seemed. "I'm really not feeling that great."

Draco grinned at her. "Pans," he said. "You can't fool me. I know when you're lying."

Hermione didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Heh…" she gave a weak smile as he grabbed her arm and dragged her down the isle and out of the dungeon classroom.

------------------------------------

"Wow, Hermione," Ron said as Pansy followed him out of the potions room. "That was such bad luck to be paired up with a Slytherin. It's no wonder your potion was a flop. What did she do? Poison it?"

Pansy frowned behind his back. "No, actually…" she said, already bored with her new Gryffindor status and wanting to spice things up a little. "It was my fault. I put in too much water." And it wasn't even a lie.

Harry turned around to look at her in shock. "How could you, Hermione Granger, make such a dumb mistake like that? Are you sure that's what's happened?"

Pansy hated Potter even more than she had before. She wanted to hit both of them in the nose, go to the library right away and just let Hermione deal with the consequences. "Yes, that's exactly what happened. I had my mind on other things," she said instead.

"Like what?" Ron grinned as they rounded the corner and started up the stairs to the first floor. "A new boyfriend?"

"Yeah, right," Pansy muttered. The thought of Hermione with a boyfriend almost made her laugh out loud. "I've got a huge exam in Astrology tomorrow, and if I don't study, I'm going to fail. Actually," she said as they reached the top of the staircase. "I'm going to the library right now. See you at dinner, alright?"

Ron and Harry looked at each other. "Okay…" they said in unison, standing there together at the top of the stairs and Pansy rushed over to the Library wing.

------------------------------------

"Honestly, Draco," Hermione said as he pulled her toward the Slytherin dormitories. "I'm really not feeling well. I think I should go to a nurse."

He stopped in his tracks and pressed the palm of his hand to her clammy forehead. "Tsk, tsk! You're not hot at all."

Hermione frowned at him. "I have a stomach ache," she insisted. "I might have ate something bad at lunch."

"You had the same lunch as me!" Draco insisted as he looked her over, searching for any sign of sickness. "How can you be sick?"

"Um," Hermione bit her lip. "I don't know, Draco, but I know that I don't feel good, so I'm going to go to the nurse. Please don't try and stop me." She turned around on her heel and tried to get out of the dungeon hallways before he could stop her.

However, just as she was about to turn the corner, she stopped and turned back to look at him. "I'm sorry," she said, feeling bad that he wouldn't have Transfiguration help for the time being. "I'll help you later tonight. Okay?"

He stood there, unmoving, staring at her with wide eyes. "Okay," he spat out after a moment of silence.

Hermione hurried off, cursing herself. She had obviously done something un-Pansy like for him to look at her that way, stunned. Then again, she didn't know what kind of relationship Draco and Pansy had. For all she knew, they could be more than friends. After all, he had taken her to the Yule Ball than two years in a row.

She shook off the feeling. If she had messed up things for Pansy, Pansy was going to have to fix them later. Right now, all that mattered was getting back in her own body.

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Pansy Parkinson was sitting in the library for a good ten minutes before she saw Hermione, in Pansy's own body, rushing up to her table.

"It's sort of strange looking for yourself," Hermione smiled, the sweet look on her face giving Pansy a really odd sort of feeling.

"I can more than imagine," Pansy said. She was starting to get really annoyed at the situation. "Let's just get to business. We need to figure out a way to get ourselves out of this situation."

"Well," Hermione started as she slid into the seat across the small table from Pansy. "We could always ask for Snape's help…"

Pansy sensed her hesitation for that resolution. "That's out of the question," she said. "If we tell Snape what actually happened, he's going to give us an F, and both of our grades will drop significantly. However, if we can pull off the potion successfully in detention tonight, we might get a C."

Hermione cringed. "I'm not so happy about the C, but I agree that it's much better than an F."

"Duh," Pansy rolled her eyes. "So let's find a reverse potion or something."

"That might get really complicated," Hermione told her. "Reverse potions are not only twice as complicated as the original potions they reverse, but they take much longer and require much rarer supplies."

Pansy raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you saying we can't do it?"

Hermione took out Pansy's potion book and then looked over at her. "No, that's not what I'm saying at all. But I will need your help, and you should know that this won't be solved today."

"I know," Pansy sighed as she slouched over the table, Hermione's ever bushy hair falling in front of her face. "That just means we're going to have more than one challenge; the potion, and learning to live as each other until its ready."

"That might be difficult…" Pansy heard Hermione say.

"You're telling me. I've got to live in Gryffindor Towers with all of those happy Gryffindors." Her forehead hit the table gently.

"Not only that, but how are we going to get our homework done? And tests!" Hermione exclaimed. We'll have to take each other's tests!"

Pansy sensed that she wasn't so worried about Pansy's grades.

"And what about friends? Should we tell them? Or keep them in the dark?" Hermione went on.

Pansy raised her head. "Calm down… we'll figure that out later. Let's find the potion first so we can get started on our main project here."

"Right," Hermione agreed, jumping up from her seat and moving over to the potions section of the library which was several sections down from their table.

Pansy sat at the table, watching her own body standing several meters away, flipping through library books with a concentrated expression on her face. It was weird, she thought. But if they could pull this off, then they could keep their potion grades in good standing and hopefully not lose anything else important in the process.

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Draco Malfoy sat on his bed in his dungeon room, his homework laid out before him across his bed, the lamp from his nightstand reflecting against their white surfaces. He stuck his lower lip out, pouting. He had done everything that he could possibly do, but was stuck again… and needed help.

How long was Pansy going to be at the nurse?

Draco crossed his arms. Thinking about Pansy made him remember her curious behavior earlier that afternoon. The way she had sincerely promised to help him was a little unnerving. And if Pansy Parkinson was anything, it was definitely not sincere. Something about the look in her eyes had weirded him out.

He jumped when there was a pounding sound at his door. Carefully, he piled his papers together and went to open it. He had expected to see Pansy, but instead, standing in front of him when he opened the door, were Crabbe and Goyle, with wide grin on their faces. This could only mean one thing…

"What is it," he said, already knowing the answer.

"Dinner's early tonight," Crabbe said, holding up his special 'early mealtime' fork. "Let's go eat!"

Draco stared at them. "I'll meet you there," he said, slamming the door shut in their stupidly grinning faces. "Ugh," he groaned as he leaned against the cold door. "As if I could eat at a time like this!"

He had mounds and mounds of undone homework, half of it which was due tomorrow, and his only intelligent friend was stuck somewhere in the hospital wing.

"I know," he suddenly grinned. "I'll just bring my homework to her."

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Hermione, with the copied potion in her backpack, smiled as she walked back to the dungeon. She and Pansy had located the reverse potion after an hour of intense research, copied it down, and then made a list of the items that each of them should retrieve and bring back to the library tomorrow evening at eight o'clock in the evening.

In addition to the potion, they had also agreed to keep the news of the switch between the two of them. The more people who knew, the more likely it would be that their cover would be blown, and Snape had a way of prying things out of his students.

It would be hard, but Hermione was sure she could pull it off. She was more worried about how Pansy would be when she was with Ron and Harry…

Her smile faded and her stomach fluttered as she reached the Slytherin dungeon. She whispered the password that Pansy had told her, and gained entry into the dormitories. Pansy had told her about the layout of the dorms, but nothing really prepared her for the view of heir common room.

It was dark from the floor to the ceiling. The floors were black stone, and the ceiling was painted a deep green. On the walls hung Slytherin banners and pictures of past Slytherin greats moving around in giant gold frames.

She walked past several black leather couches and was about to go into the girls' side of the dormitories when a pale blonde figure blocked her path.

"And just where is it that you think you're going?" Draco drawled, leaning against a black stone pillar that separated each dormitory.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, half from the shock of his sudden appearance and half because the sight of him reminded her that she had promised she would help him with his homework. "I'm sorry," she said. "I was just going to put my stuff away…"

"Sure, you were." Draco's gray eyes were fixed on her. "You know, Pans… I consider you my friend. And friends help each other out, right?"

Hermione wasn't sure what to say. "R-right…" she agreed, wondering if it would be a smart move to take a step away from him. "And I planned on helping you with your homework. I wouldn't have said so, if I didn't."

"I figured that," Draco gave a slight nod. "But the thing is, you told me you were ill, and you said you were going to go to the hospital wing. However," he stuck an index finger in the air. "When I went up to the hospital wing and inquired about your health, I was informed by Madam Pomfrey that you hadn't even been there today. How do you think that makes me feel, Pans?"

Hermione looked at him. He was giving her a horribly pained look… like she had stuck her hand into his chest, and ripped his heart right out. She had known Draco had the tendency to be a bit overdramatic, but this was ridiculous. The only way she could get away with lying to him would be to, of course, give him a good reason. This was the sort of behavior that Slytherins were used to, after all.

She looked away, trying her best to look embarrassed. "Okay, so I admit it," she said, "I didn't go to the hospital wing."

"Yes…" Draco said as he leaned forward, waiting for her explanation of the lie.

"I've been having…" she said, finding that she really was embarrassed to admit something of this nature to him. "Female issues," she finished. "And I didn't want to say it."

Draco leaned back and looked away from her, his face bright red. "Oh."

"So you can understand, right?" Hermione prodded.

"Yeah, whatever," Draco took a step back towards the boys' dormitories. "You can go… put your things away. Meet me in my room after your detention with Snape."

Before Hermione could agree with him, he was gone.

Wow… she smiled slightly. She had had no idea that it was that much fun to torment a boy.

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Pansy looked at the huge gold clock that hung over the library's large windows. There was an hour before she and Hermione had to meet Snape for their detention, and she wasn't sure what to do before then. What she would have liked to do was go to the Great Hall for some dinner, but going anywhere looking like Hermione meant that those dolts Potter and Weasley would instantly attach themselves to her. The thought of it didn't sound so pleasing.

Instead, she ignored the incessant growling of her stomach and worked on her Transfiguration essay until it was a quarter to seven. She threw Hermione's books back into her bag, and walked to the library's exit, hoping no one who was friendly with Hermione would stop and chat.

She got lucky. She made it all the way down into the dungeons without a single person saying Hermione's name.

Hermione was already waiting for her in front of the Potions door. "Ready for this?" she said as Pansy approached her.

"Do I have a choice?" Pansy retorted. She reached for the door, and pushed it open. The two of them walked inside, nodding to Professor Snape who sat at his desk, and took their seats in the first row.

Snape seemed pleased. "My, my, both of you are right on time. Even early, it should seem." When neither Pansy nor Hermione said anything, Snape stood up and walked around his desk. "Well, what are you waiting for, take out your books and start making your potion."

Pansy took out her cauldron while Hermione gathered the supplies. She spread out the directions to the potion out on her desk and waited while Hermione walked back to the desk.

The dead silence of the almost empty Potions room made Pansy feel awkward and afraid to talk, but she had to say something out loud if the two of them were going to work together.

"I'll start mixing the ingredients while you get the water," she offered.

"Good idea," Hermione said, probably relieved that she would have complete control over the potions water content this time.

'Hey,' Pansy thought. 'If all goes well, it might even change us back.'

By the time the two of them had finished the potion, the glop had turned a slight green color. While this was promising, it didn't seem like it would be too tasty to drink.

Snape walked over to their desks and peered down into their potion. "Okay," he said, not a hint of a smile on his greasy face. "Let's see you give it a go."

Hermione scooped up the goop and put it into two paper cups. She handed one to Pansy, and they both downed the contents immediately… and to their surprise, as they looked at each other, their faces turned a light shade of green. They couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Well, I guess you two have saved your grades for today," Snape said, almost sounding disappointed. "I'll be giving you each a C for this assignment. But that's only because you were on time for your detention and for your speed, efficiency and teamwork on this potion. It's just too bad you couldn't do it well the first time around."

Pansy fought the urge to roll her eyes at him. "Thank you, Professor Snape," she said.

"The hour isn't over," Hermione said, looking at the clock. "Is there anything else we should do?"

Pansy shot her a glare. Perfect-student Hermione could always think of more work for the teachers to give them.

"I don't have time to babysit, Miss Parkinson," Snape replied as he walked back behind his desk and took a seat. "You've done your job, now go back to your dormitories for the evening."

Both Hermione and Pansy gathered their things and quietly left the room. When the dungeon door snapped shut, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm not too pleased with the C, but it could have been much worse. We did a good job in there, didn't we?"

Pansy looked down her nose at Hermione. Did she want Pansy to agree with her? Like she would ever admit out loud that she had made a great team with a Gryffindor. "We made it out of the hole at least," was all that she would admit as they began their walk down the long hallway. "Now we have to figure out how to get our own lives back. How long did you say the reverse potion would take to make?"

"Two weeks," Hermione replied. "And only if we can gather the ingredients by tomorrow evening."

"At least tomorrow's a Saturday," Pansy said. "We'll have plenty of time to work on it."

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Hermione arrived back at the Slytherin common room ten minutes before eight to notice several Slytherins gathered around their big black fireplace with steaming cups of what she assumed was hot chocolate. She was wondering which dormitory was Draco's when he stepped out in front of her.

"You have a bad habit of doing that," she frowned at him. "One of these days you're going to give someone a heart attack jumping out like that." She didn't want to admit it, but she was getting used to his constant creeping.

"Listen, Pans," he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her through the common room. "I have so much homework that I don't have time to listen to your complaints."

Hermione followed him into the boys' dormitories and through the dark hallways. He stopped at the door at the very end and opened it. When she followed him inside, she had to stop herself from gawking. Not only was it apparent that Slytherins did not share their rooms, but they were also almost as big as the room Hermione shared with three other girls. And Draco needed the space. He had large furniture and fancy objects everywhere.

"Don't look so dumbfounded," Draco scolded. "You act as though you've never seen my room before."

Hermione's cheeks became warm. How many times had Pansy been in Draco's room?


	2. Chapter 2 Collecting Ingredients

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the characters in this story. Everything except the story idea itself belongs to JK Rowling.

**Author's Note:** Thanks for the reviews everyone :) Here's chapter two for you to enjoy!

**--------------------------------------------------- **

**Time for a Change  
Chapter Two  
By: Lori Finnegan  
2006**

Pansy had managed to avoid Hermione's Gryffindor friends so far that day, but as it was nearing bedtime, she was forced to retire to the Gryffindor Common Room. She hoped, as she told the password to the Big Fat Lady in the painting, that she could sneak by everyone in the Common Room and quietly go to Hermione's room without anyone bothering her.

But that wasn't the case, unfortunately. The Gryffindor common room was packed with giggling Gryffindors. Pansy's stomach turned and the frown on her face deepened. Immediately, heads turned to the doorway to see who had entered, and she was greeted with a chorus of "Hey, Hermione!" to her displeasure.

She put on what she believed would be a good Hermione smile, and gave them a short wave. "Hi, everyone."

"Hermione! Over here!"

Pansy turned to see Ron and Harry sitting in front of the fire place on a red rug. They were engaged in a game of chess. Ron had about twice the amount of discarded pieces than Harry did. Feeling incredibly unlucky, she walked up to them and tried to smile. "What's up?"

Harry looked up at her. "Nothing really. We were tired of doing homework so we took a break. How was your detention with Snape?"

"It wasn't so bad. We made the potion, and he gave us a C. It could have been worse."

"Geez, Hermione," Ron said. "You getting a C… I never thought I'd see the day."

"Yeah, well, you did," Pansy said, getting bored with this conversation already. "Hey, I'm kinda tired. I think I'm gonna turn in early tonight." She took a step away from the chess board.

"Wait, Hermione," Harry said. "We were gonna go to the Great Hall and get some ice cream in a little bit. You wanna go with us?"

"Naw," she replied. "It's been a long day. I'm just going to turn in."

"Suit yourself," Ron shrugged. "We'll see you tomorrow for breakfast."

Pansy tried her best to smile at him. "Sure thing! Goodnight!" And then she turned around, determined to get to Hermione's room before she had to stop and socialize with anyone else.

And she made it.

"Hey, Hermione," said Lavender Brown, who sat on one of the five beds in the room surrounded by her homework. "How was detention with Snape?"

Did all Gryffindors find it necessary to chit chat about stupid things constantly? "It went fine," she said. "I'm really tired, though. It's been a long day."

"You're telling me," Lavender agreed. "I haven't had this much homework since finals last year. It's taking me a while to get back into the swing of things."

"Yeah," Pansy said, trying to end the conversation. "Do you mind if I just go to bed? I have to get up pretty early in the morning and work on one of my homework assignments."

"Oh, no, go ahead," Lavender said. "Don't let me keep you. I'll be quiet here, just doing my homework, anyway. Good night!"

Pansy opened up Hermione's drawers and pulled out a nightgown. She quietly changed, slipping on the nightgown and then climbing into Hermione's bed. Even though it was early, and if she was in her own room she probably would wait a while to go to bed, she was sincerely exhausted. All of the planning and the stress of having to pretend she was someone else was enough to tire anyone.

She pulled the curtains around the bed, and then climbed beneath the covers. It only took a few minutes before she was out cold.

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Hermione, on the other hand, was up quite a bit later trying to explain the Transfiguration concept to Draco so that he could finish his essay.

"You see?" she said from the chair next to Draco's bed. "It's the property of the wood that makes it so difficult to change it into metal. If it were anything else, it would be a much simpler spell."

Draco had his hand in his hair and his quill between his teeth as he stared down at his essay. He took the quill out and pressed it to the parchment. "I think I see what you're saying," he said. "But even though it's more complicated, why does the spell have to be three times as long?"

"More complicated spells obviously have longer incantations, Draco," Hermione explained. "It's common knowledge, so I don't think it's necessary for you to explain it in your essay."

"Ah," he said, but still looked slightly confused. "Let me try this out." He picked up his wand and pointed it at his large wooden dresser. "Arbor actaeon lamina," he said, flicking his wand.

Hermione watched as the dresser turned into a black wood with metal handles. "No, no, no," she said, saying a simple spell and returning the wood to its original state. "You can't use such a short spell for such a complicated transfiguration! Didn't you read the text on this issue?"

Instead of getting upset, Draco grinned an evil grin. "Careful, Pans. You're starting to remind me of Granger."

Hermione sat back down in her chair. It was far too early for anyone to get suspicious of the switch.

"Don't look so pale!" he exclaimed. "I was only kidding. No way would I actually think you were like that mudblood."

Draco always had a way with words. He always knew exactly what to say to make Hermione feel like complete trash. "Never mind," she said, trying to shake it off. "Just watch and learn." She started out with the same spell Draco had said, but kept going for several sentences until flicking her wand at the precise moment, and that's when the dresser changed to a sleek silver metal, the handles also made of the exact same material.

"See," she said as he gawked at the furniture. "You also have to get your timing right. It's a skill, let me tell you."

"Turn it back, and let me try again," he said as the initial shock wore off.

This went on for another hour until Draco could do the transfiguration on his own, and by this time, it was almost eleven o'clock. It didn't matter for Draco, because he could sleep in the next morning, but for Hermione, she had a lot of work ahead of her.

"I'm going to go to bed, Draco," she said, when Draco had begun to confidently write his essay. "I've got a lot of homework of my own to do tomorrow." And this wasn't a lie.

"Okay, thanks for helping, Pansy. Merlin knows I needed it."

Hermione nodded to him. "No problem. Good night." She picked up her things and exited the room. Tutoring Slytherins turned out to be quite similar to tutoring Gryffindors. Perhaps they weren't as different as she initially thought they were.

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Harry Potter and his best friend Ron Weasley sat in the Gryffindor Common Room until nine o'clock in the morning waiting for Hermione to come out of her room so that the three of them could go to breakfast together. But they had been waiting for about an hour, and Ron was starting complain about starving to death, he was so hungry.

"Okay, fine," Harry agreed, getting up from his place on the couch. "We'll go without her. I just hope for your sake she's not mad about it."

"She won't be mad," Ron said as he hopped up from his spot. "She understands how hungry I get."

"Yeah, right," Harry rolled his eyes.

Just as they were about to leave, several girls emerged from the girls dormitories, and the boys turned to look to see if Hermione was included among them.

She wasn't.

"Hey, Lavender," Harry said, and all three girls turned to look at them. "Have you seen Hermione?"

"Oh, she's long gone," Lavender informed. "She went to bed early last night and got up early this morning. She left the room at seven saying she was headed over to the library to study."

Ron pushed the door open, and he and Harry stepped out into the hallways. "Figures," he said. "Typical Hermione behavior if you ask me."

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Hermione had sneaked into the Great Hall early that morning, grabbed some toast and an apple, and ate it on her way to the lake just to the south side of Hogwarts. She was looking for the egredior plant which was usually found in murky water. Hermione suspected that she may have to get dirty to retrieve the specimen.

She walked along the edge of the water until she came to an area that led off to a small pond that looked very murky and swamp like. She cleared away a spot in the grass and sat down, taking her book out of her bag and flipped it open to where she had it book marked. "Here we go," she said, her finger pointing to the picture of the small curly leaf.

She knelt next to the water, and looked over into the murky mess. It was almost impossible to see anything. Taking a deep breath, she rolled up her sleeve and plunged her arm into the water. When she drew her arm back up and out, her hand held a mucky mess of leaves and mud.

"Ugh," she groaned as she opened her hand and searched for the tiny leaf. "Here it is!" she exclaimed, plucking it out with her fingers. "Perhaps I won't be so unlucky after all!"

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Pansy was feeling incredibly hopeless. She had been up since six o'clock in the morning and had only found two items on her list by nine. This wouldn't seem so bad if she didn't have twelve more to find. That and she had been walking around the forbidden forest for almost an hour and hadn't found a nitor mushroom yet.

"These things just don't exist!" she said in frustration, kicking a nearby tree with the toe of her shoe.

"Well, you better git out of 'ere young Hermione, or the werewolves'll be getting' ya."

Pansy fought the urge to groan. She turned around to see Hagrid, along with his dog Fang, in the forest along the same path she had been on. She knew that Hermione and her stupid friends were 'friends' with Hagrid or whatever, but right now she didn't have the patience for pretending.

"Um, hi, Hagrid. I'm just looking for something for a potion spell that we're doing in class next week. Snape says we have to get some of our own ingredients." And only half of it was a lie.

"Why, that's strange," Hagrid looked perplexed. "Since when is Snape sendin' 'is students to the Forbidden Forest?"

"He didn't," Pansy quickly covered. "But I couldn't find it on the regular grounds so I thought I'd give it a shot out here."

Hagrid and Fang started coming closer to her, and she realized that he wasn't going to leave her alone. "You know, you shouldn't be out 'ere all alone, Hermione."

"I know," she played along. "But it's daytime, and I was staying close to the edge of the forest, so I didn't think it would be so dangerous."

"It's dangerous at all times of the day," Hagrid informed her. "So you best be gettin' on your way, I tell ya."

Pansy sighed. "Okay, I'll go look over by the lake some more, I guess." She hiked her backpack over her shoulder and walked past Hagrid and back to the beaten path. "See you later, Hagrid."

'Geez,' she thought as she walked back to the opening that led back to Hogwarts. 'It's so not easy to avoid people when I look like Hermione.'

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Harry and Ron had spent the entire morning lounging around the Gryffindor Common room going back and forth between homework and breaking for board games, when they realized that Hermione had never come back from her study session at the library.

"It's almost lunch," Ron said, looking up at the grand clock above the door. "She must have some really horrible Arithmancy report to write or something like that."

"Probably," Harry agreed, but he still worried. He had noticed that Hermione had been a little withdrawn since her potions disaster yesterday. "I think I'm gonna go check on her. You stay here and finish your assignment. Then we'll start on the next one when I get back."

Ron nodded, not seeming concerned, and Harry got up from his spot on the floor. He left the common room and made his way down to the library. When he went inside, he couldn't find Hermione anywhere. After leaving the library, he decided to check the Great Hall to see if she had decided to go to lunch on her own.

He walked through the main doorway, and spotted her eating alone at the Gryffindor table. She didn't even notice him until he sat down in the seat across the table from her.

"Harry," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"Ron and I were just wondering where you had run off to all morning. You usually sit and do homework with us for a while on the weekends, so I was just making sure everything was all right."

"Oh," Hermione said. "I've just got a load of homework, and I needed a lot of concentration so that I could finish it all today."

Harry smiled. He knew that at times that he and Ron could be distracting to Hermione's usual study habits. "It's okay," he said.

There was something strange about Hermione, Harry noticed. It was almost like she seemed absorbed in something. Like she had nothing to say to him, like she usually did. He watched her sitting there, twirling her fork in her noodles and looking down at her text book. He wondered if something was going on that she wasn't telling him about.

Harry stood up from the table. "I'll go get Ron and tell him we're eating now. See you in a few." And he was off before she had a chance to reply.

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Pansy sat there at the table, watching Harry Potter rush back out of the Great Hall doors and she rolled her eyes. It was impossible to escape from those two! No matter where she went, or what she tried to do, they always caught up with her.

Luckily, she had found her mushroom along the lake shore, and several other ingredients. In fact, she only had three left to find before her search was over. She only wished Hermione was having the same amount of luck that she had been having. That way they could boil the potion tonight and be well on their way to changing back to their normal selves.

Unfortunately, for now, she was going to have to eat lunch with Harry and Ron.

Hermione had gotten her lunch from the basement of the Great Hall, and taken it back to the Slytherin common room. She was beginning to find the room as a nice, quiet place to relax, unlike the rowdy bunch of Gryffindors she usually hung around with in their common room.

At noon on that Saturday, she was the only one there. She suspected that most of the Slytherins were locked away in their rooms or eating at the Great Hall. It didn't matter though. All that she wanted was a few minutes to sit in silence and think things through.

Just as she had gotten comfortable on a leather couch with a good book, the dungeon door creaked open and Draco's white-blond head appeared.

So much for silence.

"Hey, Pans," he said, taking a bite of the pink cupcake that he held in his hand and flopping down next to her on the couch. "Why weren't you at lunch? I went early and got first pick of desserts. There's still an hour left, if you want to go."

"I picked something up earlier," Hermione said as she looked back down at her book, trying to give him the hint that she wanted to read. "Don't worry about me."

She could hear his fingers tapping on the back of the couch.

"Hey," he said, "Did you get your homework done this morning?"

"Mostly," she said. Actually, she had found almost all of her ingredients for their potion, and only had two more to look for that afternoon. "I'm just taking a break and resting my brain before I have to get back at it."

Draco wrinkled his nose. "And you're doing this by… reading?"

"Yeah," she confirmed lowering her book slightly so that she could look at him. "Haven't you ever relaxed with a good book?"

Draco looked away from her. "Can't say I have, actually…"

"Oh. Well, you should try it sometime," she suggested. "It really does calm the nerves."

"Oh."

When he was quiet, Hermione began reading again, and the two of them sat there on the couch in silence.

He nudged her leg. "Hey, are you seriously just gonna sit there and read like that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Hermione wanted to know, lowering her book once more to look at him.

"You're just more quiet than usual, that's all," Draco said. He looked away again.

Hermione had never seen this side of Draco before. Since she had changed places with Pansy, he had been nothing but nice to her. Well, except for the part about calling her actual self names. But he really did treat Pansy with respect. Before yesterday, Hermione would have doubted that he even had it in him at all.

"You're usually telling me about some guy, or where you're going out at night, and what went on with this or that…" he went on. "Lately, you've just been doing your homework and not saying much of anything."

Hermione had to stop herself from gaping at him. Well, for one, she didn't realize that Pansy was… that outgoing. And she also didn't realize just how much Draco seemed to care about someone other than himself. "I've just had a lot of homework lately, that's all," she said, trying to spare his feelings.

It was quiet for a while until Draco got up from his seat and sat down on the edge of the coffee table and closer to Hermione. "Are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" he asked.

Oh, crap. With everything that had been going on lately, Hermione had completely forgotten that tomorrow was the first trip to Hogsmeade for the year. She tried not to look like she had forgotten about it. "If I can get my homework done," she said.

"What's with you?" Draco wanted to know. "I've never once known you to miss a Hogsmeade trip."

"I just have a ton of homework this weekend," Hermione explained. "I'll probably go though. Don't worry."

"Okay," Draco said, but when Hermione looked at him, he looked bummed… like he had been looking forward to this for a long time or something.

"Hey," she said, wondering if he had always been like this or if it was something new. "I'll go start my homework right now so that we can go, okay?"

Draco smiled. "Yeah, sure. I'm gonna go get a head start on mine, too. I finished that essay last night, by the way. Now I just have to work on Arithmancy problems."

Hermione closed her book over her bookmark and stood up from the couch. "Good job. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Yep," he said, watching as she walked away from him. "See you."

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Pansy was stuck eating lunch with Harry and Ron in the Great Hall. They were boring her with their Quidditch talk, and she realized that she sort of missed hanging out with Draco. Sure, he talked about Quidditch every now and then, but it wasn't this obsessive sort of talk that Harry and Ron were currently doing.

She sighed, and they both stopped talking to look at her.

"Something wrong, Hermione?" Ron wanted to know.

"I'm just tired," she lied. She had slept like a log last night.

"Oh," Ron said, and Pansy caught him exchanging a knowing look with Harry. They were probably wondering why their precious Hermione was suddenly uninterested and everything they had to say. Oh, well. This only had to go on for a few days and then everything would be back to normal.

She only wondered how Hermione was doing pretending to be a Slytherin. Draco was pretty sharp, and she wondered if he noticed anything was different about the Pansy he was used to.

It was suddenly really quiet. Pansy had finished her meal about fifteen minutes ago while Harry and Ron continued to eat. They were now on dessert and would probably go for seconds like most boys did. She occupied herself by staring at her last three potion ingredients to find, wondering where in the hell she was going to find them. She had saved the hardest ones for last.

"I'm going to head to the library," she announced, picking up her things and giving them a small smile and wave. "I'll see you guys later, okay?"

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Harry and Ron stared at her as she rushed out of the Great Hall.

"Something's strange about Hermione," Harry said as Ron put another forkful of apple pie into his mouth. "I can't really put my finger on it exactly, but something is definitely strange."

"I don't see what you mean," Ron said, his mouth full. "She's always at the library, studying and doing her homework and all of those other things she does to make sure she's the most studious person here. How is she acting any different?"

"It's not what she's doing that's strange," Harry contemplated while Ron took yet another bite of his apple pie. "I don't know… it's just… when I look at her eyes, there's something different. I wonder if she's keeping something from us."

Ron shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about, mate."

"Never mind," Harry sighed, going back to his own slice of pie. "Forget I said anything."

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After leaving the Great Hall, Pansy was rushing down the hallway so quickly, that she didn't even see someone else walk around the corner and completely knocked right into him.

"Watch where you're going!" she snapped, bending over to pick up her things that had fallen.

"Well, well, well," said Draco Malfoy. "If it isn't Granger rushing to get to the library. That is where you're going, isn't it?"

Pansy rolled her eyes. Draco could get a tad annoying at times, but this is ridiculous. "Whatever," she said. "I'm in a hurry."

He frowned. "What right do you have to take that tone with me?"

"You're not the king of this castle," Pansy told him. "Step aside."

"I most certainly will not."

"I said, step aside, or I'll make my own way by."

Draco grinned. "I'd like to see you try."

Pansy shoved past him and kept on walking. So maybe it wasn't so easy to be Hermione. And Draco was sure an asshole to her. She'd have to have a little talk to him about that later on.

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That afternoon, Hermione worked furiously on all of her homework assignments so that she could deliver them to Pansy to turn in on Monday. The news of the Hogsmeade trip made her day much tighter than she had originally planned. And when she had finished, it was already six o'clock in the evening, she hadn't had anything for dinner, and she still had two potion ingredients to find.

Shoving her books into her bag, Hermione slung it over her shoulder and left Pansy's dormitory. She was happy to find the Slytherin common room empty once again, and exited without being stopped by anyone.

Her last two ingredients shouldn't have been too difficult to find, but Hermione did not like leaving things till the last minute. The first thing she would go look for was the hair off of a bowtruckle, which she knew Hagrid kept locked up somewhere near his hut.

It was still light outside as she pushed open heavy doors and stepped out onto the grass, and she was grateful for that. She only hoped she could find the hair quickly so that she could get going on her next ingredient.

She approached Hagrid's small hut, and at the last minute, decided not to make him aware of her presence. After all, to him, she was Pansy Parkinson, and no matter how much explaining Hermione would have tried to do without telling him the truth, she doubted he would let her into the shed where he kept his creatures, including the bowtruckle. So she carefully crept around the hut, staying low and trying not to step on any dry leaves. She reached the shed and looked behind her, to make sure she wasn't being watched.

She was still alone.

She opened the door to the shed and moved to the back; to where Hagrid had shown them the bowtruckle earlier that week. In cages and stalls all around her, the creatures were mostly lying down or sleeping, but every once in a while she caught a glint of eyes watching her every move.

In the last cage, there were two bowtruckles sticking their long fingers out at her through the holes.

"I just need a hair," Hermione whispered to them. "Can one of you give me a hair?"

The bowtruckles chirped at her, trying to reach out to grab her hair.

"No, not my hair," she said. "Your hair!"

One of the bowtruckles held out two pinched fingers with a strand of hair between them. Hermione carefully took it while the other bowtruckle chirped at her.

"Thank you very much," she said, depositing the hair in a little bottle that she held in her other hand. "I really appreciate your kindness."

"Miss Pansy? Is that you over there?"

Hermione spun around on her heels and shoved the little bottle into her pocket at the same time. It would only be her luck that Hagrid would happen to enter the shack at the exact time that she was there getting he ingredient.

"Hi, Hagrid," she said, giving a little wave. "I was just looking at the bowtruckles for the assignment that's due next week. I wanted to get a little better feel for them."

"Didn't I show ya enough in class?" Hagrid stood at the doorway. "I thought I gave a long display of the creatures for all a you."

"And you did," Hermione agreed. "I just really had a fascination, that's all."

"Well, that's understandin', Miss Pansy, but ya shouldn't be hangin' out in here wit' all these creatures yerself. It could be dangerous fer ya."

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again, I promise." Hermione walked toward the exit and moved past Hagrid. "See you in class on Monday!" And she ran off.

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Pansy had one item left to find, and according to the books in the library, the only place it could be found was at the bottom of the lake. She'd probably get eaten by the Giant Squid or something with her luck.

At the current moment, she sat on a bench next to the lake thinking about how to go about getting her last ingredient.

"Hey there, Hermione."

Pansy jumped as someone in a scuba type suit emerged from the water. He pulled off his snorkel and revealed himself to be Neville Longbottom.

"Neville…" she said, staring at him as though he were crazy. "What are you doing in the water?"

Neville held out a bag filled with different types of seaweed. "Just collecting a few plants for Herbology next week. I'm doing an extra credit project for Professor Sprout on rare water plants found in England."

"Oh," she said, but then looked closer into his bag and saw something she hadn't been expecting to see. It was exactly what she had been looking for, the leaf of the ervum sea plant, and the one item she had left in her search.

"Oh, Neville!" she exclaimed, grabbing his scuba suit and pulling him closer to her. "You've gotta help me out. You've just gotta!"

"Hermione!" Neville exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock. "Of course! Anything you want!"

"Can I just have a small piece of that ervum leaf? I'll owe you big time!"

"Sure! Take it all if you'd like!"

Pansy let go of his suit and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much, Neville!" she gave him a brilliant smile as he held out his bag, sparkly eyed, and she plucked on leaf up from the bunch. "All I need as one leaf. Thanks so much, Neville, you're a dear."

And she gave his wet cheek a quick kiss before running back to the castle as fast as she could. It was almost eight o'clock and Hermione would be waiting for her.

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Harry Potter was lounging on his bed with the latest copy of his favorite Quiddich magazine, when the door burst open and both he and Ron looked up to see who was there.

"You won't believe it," a wet haired Neville said, breathing heavily. "I just ran all the way up here from the lake, and let me tell you, Hermione is acting weird!"

Both Harry and Ron perked up at the mention of Hermione's name.

"What are you talking about?" Ron demanded, sitting up straight on his bed, his legs hanging over the edge.

"I was swimming in the lake looking for rare plants for a Herbology project, and I came up to the surface, and Hermione was sitting on the bench. She begged me for a leaf from one of the plants and then gave me a kiss on the cheek!" Neville exclaimed, looking dreamily upwards as if he were imagining the scene in his head.

Harry looked over at Ron, and then back at Neville. "She kissed you on the cheek?" he wanted clarification. "Why?!"

"Apparently she really wanted my ervum leaves!" Neville exclaimed, his face red.

Harry and Ron were silent, contemplating this change of events.

"But what was even weirder," Neville went on, "Was that she grabbed me, and pulled me close… and then was like all, 'pretty please, Neville?'" He made a kissy face.

"Yeah right!" Ron exclaimed, jumping. "She did not!"

"She did!" Neville insisted. "Well, okay, so maybe she didn't say pretty please, and maybe she didn't make a kissy face, but she was majorly begging! Like her life depended on those leaves!"

Harry closed his Quiddich magazine and stood up. "I'm going to go see what's going on here," he said, and without waiting for a response, he left the dormitories.


	3. Chapter 3 Hogsmeade

**Author's Note:** Hey, everyone! Thanks for the reviews so far. Here's chapter three for you all to hopefully enjoy :) I'll be posting a chapter a week from now on, so please check back next Sunday for chapter 4! And Please let me know what you think! I love all of your comments!

* * *

**Time for a Change   
Chapter Three   
By Lori Finnegan  
2006**

Pansy set her bag of ingredients on the table in the far right corner of the library and waited for Hermione to join her. Apparently, Hermione didn't think it was important as she did, because she was two minutes late.

"I'm sorry I'm so late," Hermione breathed as she rushed up to the table and set her things on top of it. "It took me a little longer than I thought to collect the saliva of a forest troll. And let me tell you, those things are mean!"

"Today was hell," Pansy chimed in. "I'm so glad we're done gathering these stupid ingredients. A lot of them were really hard to find, and it was annoying how many people I had to avoid so that they wouldn't be suspicious of you running around looking for odd things!"

"Tell me about it," Hermione groaned. She plopped down in a set and looked across at Pansy. "You know, I haven't exactly thought about it until now, but where should we mix the potion? Too many people use the Moaning Mertyl's bathroom as their secret hideouts or whatever, so we're going to have to think of another place."

Pansy grabbed her things and grinned at Hermione. "No problem," she said. "Follow me."

But before they could stand up, Harry Potter stood in front of them, looking back and forth from Hermione to Pansy. His gaze settled on Pansy. "Hermione, what is going on?" he demanded. "You've been sneaking around school, kissing Neville, and now you're hanging out with Pansy Parkinson?"

Pansy looked up at him, took one glance at Hermione and then looked back to Harry before standing up and grabbing his arm. She pulled him around the corner and into a small nook, bookshelves surrounding them.

"I didn't want to just come out and say it," she whispered to Harry, her hand still holding his arm. "But Pansy's been having some trouble in Potions so we've been meeting and studying together."

Harry looked a little flustered. "Why didn't you just say something, Hermione?" he asked. "It's not like you haven't tutored students before!"

She leaned closer. "But none of them have been Slytherins, Harry. Don't you understand? I just didn't want to make a big deal about it."

"Sure, I understand," Harry agreed. "But that still doesn't explain why you wanted that plant from Neville and why you kissed him on the cheek!"

"I needed that plant to mix a potion to help Pansy with her potion combination skills. We're going to work on it tonight, so I didn't have time to dive down and get it myself. He really helped us out."

"I see," Harry said, shaking his arm loose of her hold. "Okay, I get it, Hermione. I understand why you didn't want to say anything. I mean… she's Malfoy's best friend and all. But you don't have to hide things from your friends. We trust you and will support you in your decisions."

Pansy stared at him. So maybe this is what Hermione saw in her dorky friends; unconditional loyalty. It wasn't something to take lightly. "Thanks, Harry," she said. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier, but like I said, I didn't want to make it a big deal when it's not. It's just some simple tutoring sessions. That's it."

"Okay, got it. I'll leave you two to your studying then," Harry said, moving to walk away.

Pansy grabbed his arm again. "Thanks for understanding, Harry." And she leaned up to kiss his cheek lightly. When she pulled away, she couldn't believe that she had actually done it.

Harry's face turned bright red, and he leaned away from her slightly. "Y-yeah," he stuttered. "No problem."

Pansy stood there as he pulled away from her hold once more and then walked down the aisle towards the exit. Eh, it was just a friendly kiss on the cheek. She gave Draco friendly kisses all the time… Apparently Gryffindor boys weren't used to being kissed.

When she returned to the table, she found Hermione still anxiously sitting at the table waiting for her.

"What did you say to him?" Hermione demanded in a whisper.

"Nothing much," Pansy said, picking up her bag from the floor. "Just that I was tutoring Pansy in Potions. And what do you know, he believed every word I said." She grinned.

"Of course he did!" Hermione said, picking up her bag as well. "He believed you because he trusts me."

"Boy, does he ever," Pansy's eyes widened as they began making their way for the exit. "He's got it bad."

"What did you say?" Hermione followed her out. "He's got what bad?" she wanted to know.

Pansy looked back at her and grinned. "Never mind."

* * *

It wasn't long before Hermione and Pansy made it down to the dungeons, but to Hermione's surprise, the passed the Slytherin dormitories and went several doors down the hallway to where Hermione had never stepped foot before. 

"This is a place that Draco and I discovered," Pansy explained as she pushed open a door on the right and the two of them went through the threshold. "No one else knows about besides us."

"Oh?" Hermione said, looking around. "And who's to say not just anyone can open this door and search around for stuff?"

Pansy turned and smiled at her. "Because this isn't the room. We were hanging out here sometime during our third year, and Draco was leaning against the wall… well, turns out, there's a secret passageway behind this room, and he just happened to be leaning against the entrance. I don't know who made this room, but whoever it is doesn't use it anymore. Draco and I are the only ones who ever come here. Trust me."

Pansy walked over to the wall on the left side of the room and pushed against a spot on the wall. Quickly, she stepped back, and Hermione watched in awe as the wall flipped up towards the ceiling and then slipped back out of view to reveal a long cement pathway sloping slightly down.

Hermione shivered, wondering where it would lead them.

"It doesn't go all that far," Pansy said as if reading her thoughts of apprehension. "Come on, let's go." She grabbed Hermione's wrist and dragged her into the dark passage way. When they were securely inside, she gave the door above them a tap with her wand, and it slid back over the entrance.

"Lumos," she said, and the tip of her wand lit their path.

Hermione reached for her wand and lit hers as well. Together, the two of them walked down the slope which slowly curved to the right, and led to an old, dusty wooden door. It was unlocked, and Pansy opened it easily as it creaked.

Inside, there was a small room, furnished with an old pink sofa, a small desk, and two oil lamps; one sitting on the desk, and the other on a small table next to the sofa. Hermione wasn't too impressed with Pansy's and Draco's 'hideout,' but it was the best idea at the moment.

"This'll do," she said, setting her bag on the desk and taking out her ingredients. "Why don't you light the oil lamps so we can have a bit more light. I'll get the ingredients in order."

"Okay," Pansy agreed and lit the lamps with the tip of her wand. "Here," she said, handing Hermione her bag. "Everything's inside."

Hermione looked at her, and their gaze met. "Let's get started then, right?"

Pansy nodded, suddenly feeling a little nervous. "Right," she agreed.

* * *

At nine o'clock that night, Harry arrived back at the Gryffindor Common Room after a quick walk around the lake. He had acted as though he bought Hermione's story about the study sessions, and in all honesty, it seemed completely logical. But that wasn't the problem. The problem was Hermione herself. It was her body language, and the way she said things… something was definitely off. 

He brushed past several Gryffindors excitedly chatting about tomorrow's Hogsmeade trip and went straight to his dormitory. He wanted to talk to Ron and get a second opinion before he jumped to conclusions.

Luckily, Ron was alone in their room quietly reading Harry's Quiddich magazine when Harry entered the room.

"What's up, Harry?" he said, not even looking up from the magazine.

"There's something I want to talk to you about," Harry said as he sat down on top of Ron's trunk at the end of the bed. "It's about Hermione."

Ron pushed the magazine aside and sat up to face Harry. "What about her? Is this about what Neville was talking about earlier?"

"Not entirely, but yes," Harry told him, leaning his shoulder against the bedpost. "Something is going on, Ron… something she's not telling us."

"Harry," Ron sighed. "How many times are you gonna bring this up? Hermione isn't acting strange, I saw her myself! So what if she kissed Neville on the cheek. Is it completely weird for a girl to kiss a boy's cheek because she's grateful to him?"

"No," Harry agreed. "It's not completely weird. But you know what? Just earlier, in the library, she kissed my cheek, too."

Ron frowned at him, "Well, next time I see her, she better be kissing my cheek because I'm starting to feel left out!"

"This isn't funny, Ron," Harry scolded. "Something is going on. I can just feel it."

"You and your instinctive feelings, Harry," Ron rolled his eyes. "Can't you just admit that maybe Hermione's just busy with her school work? Like usual?"

"I know she's busy with homework," Harry admitted. "But that's not it, it's something else." He stood up and walked back to his own bed, flopping down on his back and looking up at the ceiling. He could still feel Hermione's burning lips on his warm cheek… and he shook his head, trying to get the feeling to go away.

"You're reading too far into things," Ron assured him. "It's not like she has some secret boyfriend or something."

Harry flinched when Ron mentioned the possibility of Hermione having a boyfriend. That wasn't it, was it? He turned over onto his side, facing away from Ron, and stared at the door. What in the hell was going on…?

* * *

Pansy wiped her brow and leaned back against the pink sofa. "We've done it…" she breathed. "And it's only ten o'clock." 

Hermione stared down into the purple slime and wrinkled her nose. "This won't be very tasty, I imagine," she said. "But, oh well. Hand me the cover, and we'll store this here while we wait for it to brew."

"Got it." Pansy grabbed the container from the cushion beside herself and stretched out her arm so that Hermione could reach it.

"And it's sealed!" Hermione exclaimed, holding up the small cauldron. "We'll just… stash it under the sofa in the time being," she decided as she bent down and slid it underneath the dust flap. It fit perfectly.

"Finally, that's over," Pansy said, relieved that that they were done. "I'm gonna turn in."

"Me, too," Hermione said. "The Hogsmeade trip is tomorrow, and Draco is dying to go."

Pansy rolled her eyes, leaning back against the couch. "Tell me about it. For some reason, he looks forward to it every time we go."

"Hmm." Hermione gathered her things and pushed the door open. "Maybe I'll find out tomorrow," she pondered. "Will you put out the lights?"

Pansy pointed her wand at each lantern, and they went out in a wisp of smoke. Wands lit, she and Hermione walked down the long passageway and then parted when they reached the normal dungeon hallways. Pansy couldn't help thinking about how long the next two weeks would be.

* * *

The next morning, Pansy was showered and dressed by eight o'clock, and wandered into the Gryffindor Common Room to see when everyone was leaving for Hogsmeade. She knew she was going to have to hang out with Harry and Ron that entire day and wasn't only regretting it because of the obvious, but the strange encounter with Harry from yesterday was still bothering her. 

Not only did she have to pretend to be Hermione, but she now had to pretend to be Hermione who had to ditch Harry Potter and still remain friends with him. It wasn't going to be easy.

"Hey, Hermione!" several Gryffindors called from the other end of the room, and she walked over to meet them.

"You all packed for Hogsmeade?" Ron grinned at her. "I'm all set!" He held out two mittens attached by a string. "Mum got carried away, I guess." Each red mitten had a huge yellow 'R' on it.

"Sure, I think I'm ready," Pansy told him. She had carelessly stuffed a pair of mittens, a hat, and Hermione's trusty Gryffindor scarf into Hermione's purple backpack and rushed down to the common room. However, she had spent a little time upping Hermione's appearance. She even dotted on a little eye shadow and lip gloss. She was getting sick of Hermione's plain look and wanted to spice it up a bit. Not that she was planning on attracting any drooling Gryffindor boys or anything… "Great mittens, by the way," she told Ron.

"Thanks," Ron said, jumping up from the spot on the hearth of the fireplace. "Well, now that Hermione's here, let's head down. Alright?"

A few other boys and girls around them stood up as well, and followed Ron out of the common room. Pansy was about to follow when she saw a still figure sitting on a chair on her left. "Harry?" she said, "Aren't you coming?"

"Oh," Harry said, the glazed look in his eyes lifting when he realized she was talking to him. "Yeah, I was just thinking. I guess I got distracted."

Pansy was trying to act like Hermione, but it wasn't easy. The real Pansy would have slapped him across the head and told him to get his ass out of dreamland. But Hermione… Hermione would smile, grab Harry's sleeve and tell him to hurry up or they'd be late. So that's what she did.

"Stop daydreaming," she rolled her eyes at him. "And come on. You're going to make everyone late."

Harry slowly rose from his chair as if he were still contemplating some sort of decision.

She reached out and clutched his sleeve, pulling him towards the door. "Fine, fine," he muttered as she pulled him through the threshold and out into the hallways. Together, they walked quickly to catch up to everyone else.

* * *

Hermione and Draco stood on Hogwarts West lawn and waited for the professors to come out and lead the way to Hogsmeade. Hermione pulled her scarf tighter around her neck and buttoned up her black jacket. It was already starting to get chilly even though there were still some leaves on the trees. 

"Hey, Draco," Crabbe said from behind them. "What are the plans for today? Got anything up your sleeve for Potter and his lousy friends?"

Hermione blinked. For some reason she had suddenly forgotten how Draco and his dumb friends always picked on them during Hogsmeade trips. She turned to face Crabbe before Draco had a chance to reply. "Don't you think we're getting a little too old to throw snowballs at people?" she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "I mean, seriously, it's a bit immature."

Crabbe and Goyle were staring at her as though they had never seen her before. "Snowballs are not immature," he said. "I don't know where you got that from."

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned back around. "Whatever," she muttered, and started walking towards the crowd that was beginning to form on the front walk. She was halfway there when she felt a hand on her arm.

"Since when do you think picking on Potter is immature?" he hissed into her ear. "Isn't this your favorite part about Hogsmeade?"

"No," she said, frowning. She was mostly upset that she was in this conversation, but she was also upset at herself for falling out of character around the people she was going to spend the main part of her next two weeks with. "I mean, it was," she lied. "But I think we're a little too grown up for bullying. Don't you think?"

"I suppose, but…" Draco looked semi-thoughtful. "Some things just never get old, I guess."

Hermione pulled away from him. She just couldn't let go. "Whatever," she said, picking up her pace and blending into the crowd. If Draco truly cared for Pansy he would come and find her anyway.

In the middle of the crowd, she bumped into Pansy and Harry, who were rushing to catch up with the other Gryffindors. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, backing away. Seeing the look on Harry's face, so lost and confused… exactly how she felt at the moment, she suddenly felt like crying. She wished she could be back with Harry and Ron again instead of having to constantly spend time with Draco and his mean friends. Before either of them could react, Hermione turned around and moved against the crowd, desperate to get out before full blown claustrophobia hit her, and she really did start crying.

But the second she escaped the thick crowd, she ran right into another person, hard. Two arms caught her before she could hit the ground. She stood up on her own two feet and went to push him away, but then realized that she had ran right back into Draco. He had both of her wrists in his hands and didn't look like he'd be letting go anytime soon.

"What is going on?" he demanded as he held her in place. "Why did you run away from us, and… are you crying?"

Hermione looked back at the crowd of students who were now a little distance away. "I… I don't know," she said, and it really wasn't a lie. "Just let go of me. I want to go back to my room."

"Why?" he asked. "What happened in the last minute that made you so upset?"

She struggled against him until he let her go. "I just…" she said, but couldn't go on. She couldn't tell him she missed being a Gryffindor. She couldn't tell him that she thought he and his friends were assholes, and she couldn't imagine spending one week with them, much less two. "I really don't want to talk about this right now," she admitted. "I'm sorry if I'm acting strange… I'm just a bit emotional lately. That's all."

Draco's face suddenly turned red, and he turned away from her slightly. "Is this about the… female stuff… you were talking about yesterday?"

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe."

"Okay," he muttered, looking back at her. "I promise I won't bring it up again if you promise to come to Hogsmeade with me. And I promise I won't make fun of Potter and Weasley and their dumb friends the entire day. Would that make you happy?"

She found herself smiling at him. "Yes, it would, actually."

* * *

"Hey, Hermione," Harry said as they walked along with the crowd. "Did Pansy Parkinson seem a little… off to you?" 

"No…" Pansy said slowly, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure Hermione was okay. Unfortunately, she couldn't see her through the crowd. "She seemed perfectly Pansy-like to me."

"I don't know what it was, but I got the feeling that something was wrong."

Pansy rolled her eyes, making sure he wouldn't see her. What the hell was it with Harry and his intuitions?

* * *

When the group arrived at Hogsmeade, everyone went their separate ways. The only instruction, with the exception of good behavior, of course, was to meet back in front of the main gate at exactly five o'clock that afternoon, and they would all go back to the Great Hall for dinner with the rest of the school. 

Ron Weasley looked down at his watch. It was just after nine, and that gave them almost eight whole hours to wander around Hogsmeade, drink butterbeer, and just generally have a great time.

He caught up to Harry and Hermione, squeezed between them and put his arms around their shoulders. "So what'll it be first?" he asked, grinning back and forth from Harry to Hermione. "I say we should go to the three broomsticks for breakfast. What do you say?"

"Sure," Harry said, but he did not grin back.

"What's up with you, mate?" Ron wanted to know. He dropped his arms from his friends' shoulders and looked over at Harry as he walked.

"Nothing," Harry replied.

Ron looked over at Hermione and shrugged. "Okay…" he said, and together the three of them wandered into the Three Broomsticks and sat down at a table near the bar.

"Three butterbeer, over here!" Ron called, grinning to the waitress.

She winked at him, "Coming right up!"

After the waitress left, Ron looked over at Harry and Hermione and waited for one of them to say something, but they didn't. Hermione was looking around the room as if she was looking for someone else, and Harry was staring at the clock on the wall. The three of them sat at the table in silence for so long that it was starting make Ron mad. He tapped his fingers on the table.

"Are you two gonna sit there and stare at the walls all day, or are we gonna have some fun?" he demanded.

Harry looked at him, annoyed, and Hermione gave him a smile and a shrug.

"Well, say something!" Ron insisted.

"I don't know what to say!" Hermione said. "What is it we usually talk about!?"

"You should know," Ron frowned at her. "Who are you looking for, anyway? Are you sure you don't have some boyfriend we don't know about?"

"Are you serious?" Hermione's frown matched his own. "Why would I have a boyfriend?"

Ron stared at her. "Well, why wouldn't you have a boyfriend?" he challenged.

"Oh, please," Hermione rolled her eyes. "If I had to choose someone from this school, I might as give up completely."

"You mean…" Ron said. "That out of everyone at Hogwarts, you wouldn't date any of them?"

Hermione looked away. "Forget I said anything."

Ron leaned back in his seat and folded his arms over his chest. "No one!?" he wanted to know. "Not one single guy here, is that right?"

"She said she wouldn't date anyone," Harry said, finally speaking up. "Why would she say it if it weren't true?"

"I just didn't think that she wouldn't go for anyone here. I mean… there are plenty of…" He stopped himself before he said something he would regret. "Whatever. Let's talk about something else."

Harry groaned, and Hermione tapped her fingers against the table.

"Where is that butterbeer?" she sighed.

* * *

Hermione was annoyed that Crabbe and Goyle would not leave Draco alone. They kept making stupid jokes as they walked behind him, trying to get his attention and make him laugh. She suddenly realized how annoying it would be to be Draco. 

The thing was, though, that he didn't entirely seem to mind it. Sometimes he even smirked at them, as though he thought some of their bad jokes were slightly funny.

Hermione, on the other hand, was about to tell them to get lost and quit being so annoying. Unfortunately, in her position, she could not do that. The last time she spoke her mind, she had almost let her identity slip.

"Where are we going?" she asked Draco when Crabbe and Goyle started talking amongst themselves.

Draco shrugged. "I'm not sure." He leaned closer to her. "Actually, I'm testing something out. I want to see how long they'll follow me before they get hungry and leave us the hell alone."

Hermione didn't know what was scarier; Crabbe and Goyle with a tremendous appetite or more alone time with Draco. But she couldn't help but laugh at him because as it turned out, even Slytherins got sick of themselves.

"I'll put my bet on the next ten minutes," Hermione said.

"Oh, yeah?" Draco feigned determination. "It'll be less than five minutes for sure."

Goyle shoved his shoulder. "What are you two talking about up there?" he wanted to know.

"Yeah," Crabbe agreed. "And when are we eating? I'm starving over here!"

Hermione burst out in laughter, and Draco tried to hold his in. He was actually pretty good at it. "Well," he said, holding his arm out towards the shops. "What's stopping you?"

Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other and seeing it was mutual, they both waved their farewells and ran off in the directions of the multiple candy stores that lined the main street of the town.

Draco grabbed the sleeve of Hermione's coat and pulled her forward. "C'mon, Pans," he said in a low tone. "I want to show you something."

"Er, okay," Hermione agreed. Well, it wasn't as though she had much of a choice. All she could do was to follow Draco Malfoy wherever it was he was going to take her.

They walked past two blocks of houses in the surrounding neighborhood until they came to a small patch of threes at the end of one of the blocks. All of the leaves had already fallen from the trees and they were anything but hidden when they stepped underneath the trees.

"Where are we going?" Hermione wanted to know as he pulled her along, now by the hand.

"You'll see," Draco said. "We're almost there."

Hermione feared that he was leading her into some secret hideout that his father had set up for him and his mean friends; some place that had a shrine of Lord Voldemort or something.

"This is where I go sometimes to think things through," he said as they approached the beginning of a small hill. As they neared, Hermione realized that in the wall of the rocks, there was a small entrance, sort of like a cave. He put his arm out and blocked the branches so that she could walk ahead of him. "Go inside."

Hermione hesitated. "Are you sure it's safe in there?"

He smiled at her. It was that same smirk that always seemed plastered on his face... but this time she wasn't threatened by him. It was funny how after you started getting to know someone the expressions on their faces became so much clearer. "Why would I bring you here if I thought it was going to cave in on us?"

Hermione would have immediately suspected that he had some sort of wicked plan up his sleeve, but Pansy would trust him completely. His actual concern about her, well, about Pansy, was something that Hermione hadn't ever noticed before. "Okay," she said. After all, she was Pansy, and Pansy was someone who Draco cared for.

She ducked and slipped inside of the opening. Draco stepped in right after she did, and lit his wand to illuminate the area. Hermione's eyes widened, and she tried not to gasp as the light bounced off of the stalactites from the ceiling. The cavern was like a little domed hideaway that no one would suspect was there until they saw it with their own eyes.

"Wow," she breathed. "This is one impressive hideout."

"It's not really a hideout," Draco corrected. "No one knows it's here besides me… and now you… as far as I know, anyway. Sometimes I come here to study when things get a little too crazy at school."

Hermione couldn't help but wonder when the Slytherin common room ever was crazy. So far every time she had been in there it had been almost completely deserted. They seemed to really keep to themselves most of the time. "It's nice here," she said. "And very quiet."

"I come here a lot in the winter, too," he said, walking to the back of the cavern and then turning around, his footsteps echoing throughout the room. "All I have to do is use a quick warming charm, and I don't get cold."

"Oh," Hermione mumbled, still looking up at the stalactites. "I'm glad you showed me," she said. "It helps me creep further into the mind of Draco Malfoy." She looked away from the ceiling and back at him, trying to match his famous smirk.

He grinned back at her. "As if you ever could."

* * *

Pansy and Ron had left Harry sitting in the Three Broomsticks so that he could talk with Professor Lupin about the latest things happening in the wizarding world, while they had gone back out into the chilly weather. Pansy wrapped Hermione's ugly Gryffindor scarf around her neck and reluctantly fell into footstep besides Ron. Hogsmeade with the Gryffindors was absolutely boring. 

She and Ron had nothing in common.

"So, Hermione…" Ron said in a strangely serious voice that made Pansy turn her head to look right at him. "Something's up with Harry, and I wanted to have a little chat with you about it."

"Oh?" Pansy said, struck by this sudden news. She wasn't sure she would even be able to give him any insight into the situation considering… well, considering she wasn't actually Hermione. "What is it?"

Ron led her around the corner to a bench that was situated in front Dervish and Banges, a shop that repaired magical items. They both sat down, and Pansy put her mittens on to keep her fingers warm in the breeze.

"Lately he's just been acting weird," he said, leaning close to her so that no one passing by would hear their conversation.

"How so?" Pansy inquired.

"It isn't really simple," Ron mused. "But he's come to me several times saying that there's something going on with you that he can't put his finger on. Well," he said, leaning back. "If you ask me, he's going nuts. I asked him what about you was different, and he couldn't even mention one thing. How nuts is that, Hermione?"

Pansy stared at him, almost afraid to answer the question. But she had to say something. "Pretty nuts," she agreed, thanking the cold weather for keeping her complexion rosy. If had not been for the cold, her face would have been as white as a ghost's. "But now that you mention it," she played along. "He has been acting a little weird around me."

This seemed to interest Ron, because his eyes widened, and he leaned forward slightly. "Oh, really?" he breathed.

"Yeah…" Pansy confirmed. "Usually he isn't quite so nosy about what I'm doing and where I'm going," she said, hoping she was right in assuming this about Harry and Hermione's friendship. "But lately he's asking me why I'm here, and why I'm there… what I'm doing, and why… you know, those kinds of things."

"Yeah…" Ron nodded. "I've noticed that. He's suddenly so interested in you."

It was silent for a moment and the two of them stared at the leaves blowing past their shoes.

"You don't think," Ron said, turning towards her. "That he's… you know… got a thing for you. Do you?"

This was not the most attractive situation that Pansy would have liked to have been in. "I wouldn't think so," she lied, sounding shocked, even though she was sure that Ron was exactly right and was surprised that he had actually come to the right conclusion almost on his own.

"I don't know," Ron muttered, and when Pansy looked at him, she could practically see the wheels turning in his mind. "It's all adding up. Maybe he thinks you really do have some sort of crush, and you're drifting away from him or something. That would explain why he's suddenly on your case about everything. He's trying to find out the dirt and then figure out how to keep you!"

Pansy doubted that Ron's soap opera twist was what was going through Harry's mind. "I don't think so," she replied honestly. "Me and Harry? I mean come on. He must realize that the thought is absolutely ridiculous. I mean… we're just friends!"

Ron shoved his freckled finger in Pansy's face. "There's a thin line between love and friendship," he told her. "Perhaps he's crossed it."

Pansy tried her best not to groan. "This is crazy," she said. "There's no way anything like that is true. Harry's just in… some sort of funk. That's all. He'll come out of it eventually. Just like he always does."

Ron looked thoughtful. "I'll have to talk to him about it later. If he says anything to you, pretend we never had this conversation. Okay?"

"I promise," Pansy said, trying to sound supportive. She just wished this dreadful trip was over, and she could take a nap. Pretending to be Hermione and living her life was completely draining.


	4. Chapter 4 Best Friends

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews so far, guys! And Merry Christmas Eve to you all! And a very Happy Holidays for those of you not celebrating :) Please leave me more reviews? XD;**

* * *

**Time for a Change  
Chapter Four   
By: Lori Finnegan  
2006**

For Draco, the day went by very quickly. He had ditched his extra baggage, namely Crabbe and Goyle, and he and Pansy had had a great time. They spent a few silent moments together sitting in his secret getaway and then headed on over to the Three Broomsticks and drank loads and loads of butterbeer, and then just when it was lunch time they bought everything they desired at Honeydukes Sweetshop, sat outside and munched on different kinds of chocolates and toffees.

By five o'clock, all of the Hogwarts students were cold and ready to go back to the castle and warm up before crawling into cozy beds. And at two after five, they were in a procession back to the castle, and it was moving very quickly due to many pairs of frozen feet.

When they opened the big doors to the main hallway, Draco realized that he had been trying to put something out of his mind the entire day. It flickered for a moment as everyone's shoes clicked against the tiles and then went away as they all filed into the Great Hall. But it didn't leave without a reminder that he would have a long and sleepless night ahead of himself.

* * *

Dinner that night was boring and uneventful in Harry's opinion, but then again, so was the entire day. He had spent most of the day at Hogsmeade alone. Ron and Hermione had ditched him early on so instead, he spent the morning with Lupin and the afternoon with Hagrid looking for supplies for Hagrid's various magical creatures.

After dinner he bid a short farewell to Ron and Hermione and their other Gryffindor friends and went straight to his dormitory. He flopped down on his bed and reached up to pull the curtains so that he wouldn't have to worry about looking up and conversing when someone entered the room. He sighed, opening his magazine back to where he had left off the night before and mindlessly flipped through the pages.

It was easy to stay in a grumpy mood when one was already grumpy enough to last the entire next week. So he had done his best to shut his friends out and try to get over it by himself. But he couldn't help but wonder if they had noticed or if they even cared.

He got his answer when his curtains flew open and a red, freckled faced Ron stood there with his hands clutching the red curtains between his fists.

"Just who the hell do you think you are, Harry? Huh?"

Harry sat up and backed away from Ron's angry stance. "Me?" he asked. "What about you? I could have been sleeping!"

"Does it look like I care?" Ron said. "You have been moping around this castle and all over Hogsmeade for too long, and it's starting to piss me off! What in the hell is going on with you that you think you have the right to be all pouty and poor Harry over?"

Harry looked away from him and frowned. In a way, Ron was right. Nothing like his previous years at Hogwarts had happened so far. He had been safe and living a substantially normal life for the past month or so and that was probably a record for him. "Look, I'm sorry I haven't been in the best of moods lately, Ron," he admitted. "It's just one of those things. Don't you ever feel like things just aren't going your way?"

"What are you talking about?" Ron demanded. "Things have never gone my way. But you don't see me complaining about it!"

Harry looked back at him. Yeah right. Ron was the king of bad moods. What right did he have to pick on Harry about it? "Whatever," he said. "I just want to be left alone for a while, okay?"

"Sure, you do. But you know what? I'm not going to let you wallow in self pity. You're going to tell me what's going on, and I'm not going to leave you alone until I get an answer!" Ron declared, letting go of the curtains to put his hands on his hips. "So spill it, Harry. What is it?"

Harry turned away once again. "You wouldn't understand," he mumbled. "So don't even bother."

"C'mon, mate," Ron sighed. "You know that if anyone would understand something that's bugging you it would be me. Aren't we best mates?"

"Well, yeah," Harry hesitantly agreed. "But this is different. You see, Ron, sometimes you get to a certain point in your life when…"

"When what?" Ron interrupted. "When you decide you can no longer confide in your friends?"

"No," Harry said shooting him a glare. "Things change, that's all."

"So you no longer what to be my friend, is that it?"

"No!" Harry insisted. "Did I say that? It has nothing to do with you, Ron, got it?"

"Then what is it? If it isn't to do with me, then why in the world can't you tell me about it?"

"Because!" Harry yelled back at him. "You wouldn't understand even if I told you! It would just mess things up and it'll never be the same again. Trust me."

"That's crap, Harry, and you know it," Ron told him. "If you can't tell me what's bothering you then we might as well not be friends anyway. So you might as well just tell me!"

Harry turned his head to look at the other side of the room.

Ron leaned forward. "Tell me!" he demanded.

"No," Harry muttered.

"YES!" Ron shouted.

"NO!" Harry turned and shouted back.

"TELL ME, DAMMIT!" Ron yelled so loudly that the pictures shook on the walls.

Harry looked over at him and screamed, "I THINK I'M IN LOVE WITH HERMIONE!"

Ron froze, the expression falling off of his face. Harry swore that his freckles even got paler. The door flew open and Neville Longbottom stood at the doorway.

"What are you two yelling about?" he asked, but didn't wait for the answer. "People are trying to study out here!"

The door slammed shut again, and Ron was still staring at Harry. Harry looked away, ashamed that he had not only told Ron his secret, but he had also said it so loudly that he couldn't be sure that Ron was the only one who heard.

It was quiet for a few moments until Ron recovered from the initial shock. "What did you say?" he said quietly.

"Never mind," Harry replied, still not daring to look at Ron in the eyes. "Forget I said anything. None of it matters anyway."

"What do you mean, none of it matters?" Ron said, becoming animated once again. "Of course it matters. This changes everything!"

Harry glanced back at him. "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you," he said. "I don't want anything to change. Just let me get over this on my own, and everything will go back to being normal."

"It won't ever be normal again," Ron proclaimed. He started pacing back and forth in front of Harry's bed. "This is completely messed up!"

"I know!" Harry told him. "So forget that I even told you!"

Ron stopped pacing and looked back at Harry. "I can't just forget!" he said. "Now that you've told me, I can't ever forget! What am I supposed to do? Just step aside while you and Hermione walk into the sunset? How do you think this makes me feel?"

"I wasn't even going to tell you!" Harry insisted. "And besides, I'm not going to do anything about it anyway, so you don't have to worry about anything like that."

Ron was silent for a moment while Harry stared at him.

"Just forget about it," Harry said again, trying to convince him. "It doesn't matter what I feel if nothing is ever going to come out of it. So forget how I feel, and we can all go on with our lives."

"Fine," Ron said, turning around and walking towards the door. "I just need some air," he muttered without looking back and promptly exited their room.

Harry was left alone, sitting on his bed and fearing that he had just made a huge mistake. Ron did not seem very pleased with his feelings, but then again, he also didn't completely freak out like Harry would have expected him to do.

He wasn't sure what to do next, so he flopped back down on his bed, landing on top of his magazine and continued to stare across the room. All he could do was wait for Ron to come back so they could talk it out some more.

* * *

Ron walked briskly down Hogwarts' halls, his feet echoing up throughout the high ceilings. Things were falling apart quickly around him, and he didn't know what he could do to stop it. His brain went into overdrive.

What if Hermione felt the same way that Harry did? What if they actually got together and… well, what if they were a couple? What would Ron end up being then?

A spare tire, that's what.

Well, he wasn't going to have it. There was no way Harry was going to push him out of their circle. Without Harry and Hermione Ron didn't know who exactly he was, and wasn't at all sure where he would end up. It was a frightening thought.

His feet took him to the quietest place in the castle where he knew he could be sure that he wouldn't be bothered on a Sunday evening; the library. He climbed up the stairs in the center of the library and emerged on the second floor where only the most studious students studied due to the reading levels of the books that were kept there.

And that's why he was surprised to see Pansy Parkinson sitting alone at a round table in front of him. He tried to ignore her as he sat down by the windows and looked out at the darkening sky, but he kept getting the feeling she was watching him. Finally, he turned around and glared at her.

"Just what do you think you're looking at?" he demanded. "Do I have a sign on my back or something?"

"No," she said. "I just wasn't expecting to see you, that's all."

"Shouldn't you be with the rest of the Slytherins plotting some great and evil plan?" he wanted to know.

Pansy sighed an uncharacteristic sigh and turned the page in the large text book she was reading. "I'm studying for Potions if you must know," she said as she picked up her pen. "Is that okay with you?"

"Who cares," he muttered, looking back out the window until he realized she was sitting down across from him at the small rectangular table. "Did I invite you to sit next to me?"

"No," Pansy said. "But when someone interrupts my studies to sit and pout about Merlin knows what, how am I supposed to concentrate?"

Ron raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. "Are you volunteering to try and help me with my problems or something?"

"It's either that or you find another place to sit," she told him.

Ron stood up, his chair screeching behind him as he moved. "As if I'd tell a Slytherin anything about my personal life. I think I'll find another place to sit." He took one last look at her through narrowed eyes and stalked off to the other end of the library.

Just when he thought his day couldn't get any weirder, it would figure that he'd run into an annoying Slytherin. He sat down in the corner of the library's second floor and stared once again out into the skies. Now he just had to figure out what he was going to say to Harry when he went back to the room.

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Hermione looked after Ron, peering at him down the long isle of books as he sat by the window at the end of the library. Something major was going on in her group of friends, and she was missing it entirely by being forced to play Pansy Parkinson for two whole weeks. She wanted to run to Ron and help him realize he was probably overreacting over something, but in the body she was currently in, that was completely out of the question.

Instead, she just closed her text book and thought about having a conversation with Pansy about this later.

There was nothing she could do at the moment.

* * *

At nine o'clock that evening, Pansy sat alone in the Gryffindor Common Room. Most of the Gryffindors were so exhausted from their long trip at Hogsmeade that they had either turned in early or went to work on some last minute homework projects before it was too late. She finally had some alone time, and she was cherishing it. Being surrounded by happy Gryffindors twenty-four seven was enough to make even the sanest witch crazy.

She was curled up on a cozy chair in front of the warm fire place with a blanket wrapped around her as she stared into the flames.

"Hey," a female voice said, and Pansy turned just in time to see Ginny Weasley plopping down in the chair besides her.

Pansy groaned inwardly. "Hey, Ginny," she said, wondering if Ginny was anything like her older brother; loud and dense.

"Hey, Hermione," Ginny said, holding her socked toes closer to the fire. "Is something weird happening between you, Harry and Ron? Everyone seems to be acting really strange lately."

Pansy gulped. Apparently she wasn't as dense as Ron. "Not that I know of," she said. For all she knew, drama between the three of them could be a usual arrangement. "I think the guys are just getting stressed as the Quiditch season approaches. That's all they ever talk about, you know."

"I know," Ginny said as she wiggled her toes. "It's just that everyone has been so quiet these past few days. Well, that and I saw Ron speeding down the hallway angrily. Even his freckles were red."

Pansy looked over at her. Had something happened that she wasn't aware of? "I honestly don't know anything about that," she said truthfully. "I was in my room after dinner and just came out to sit by the fire in the last half hour. Maybe he got into a fight with one of the other guys?"

"It could be," Ginny agreed. "You know Ron can get a little hot headed at times."

"Yeah…" Pansy said. "He's not the calmest of boys, is he."

Ginny jumped up from the chair. "Well, if you find anything out, let me know if I can help. And if it's something completely stupid, which I'm sure it probably is, I don't even want to know."

"Got it," Pansy said. Ginny actually wasn't all that bad for a Gryffindor, she decided. She was very different from both Harry and Ron, and Hermione's roommates. Maybe all Gryffindors weren't quite so horrible.

"I'm off to bed," Ginny announced. "See you tomorrow."

"Good night," Pansy said in her most Hermione-like tone and then went back to staring at the fire. Of course for the two weeks that she was Hermione the Gryffindors had to be completely bursting of drama. It would only figure.

* * *

By eleven o'clock that night, Ron had finally worked up enough courage to return to his dormitory and face Harry to discuss the Hermione situation further. Part of him wished that Harry had fallen asleep already, and they could just put it off until tomorrow.

Unfortunately for Ron, Harry was still up and didn't look one bit sleepy even though their other roommates appeared to be sound asleep. He still sat on his bed with his Potions book in his lap, apparently studying. Harry looked up when he heard the door open.

"So you've finally decided to return," Harry said, looking back down at his book. "I thought you were going to spend the night in the Common Room or something."

"Ha, ha," Ron said. "Yeah, I'm back. I just needed to think things through. This all came to me as a shock. I'm sure you can understand."

"I know. But don't worry about it. Nothing's going to happen anyway so you can just forget I ever told you. Okay?"

Ron walked over to his own area in the room and opened his dresser draw, pulling out his pajamas. "Kinda hard to forget something like that, Harry," he said, throwing the cloths onto his bed and pulling off his shirt.

"Well, then, don't forget it," Harry advised. "But either way, nothing will happen because I'm never telling her. And neither should you. Got it?"

Ron shot him a look. "I wouldn't tell her if you asked me not to. Who do you think I am, anyway?"

"My friend," Harry replied. "So please respect my wishes. Okay?"

"Okay," Ron agreed. "I promise I'll never tell Hermione about our conversation." He slipped his pajama shirt on over his head and mumbled, "I wasn't going to anyway." As if he would dare to open that can of worms in front of Hermione.

After he was finished dressing he got into bed. "Night," he said before pulling his curtains and laying his head down on his pillow. So much for sleeping. Tomorrow was going to be an entirely new day.

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Draco Malfoy woke up the next morning and glared at his alarm clock. He reached for his wand that lie next to his pillow and pointed it right at the giant green numbers. "Absentis," he muttered and then flopped his blonde head back onto his pillow.

If he added up the entire amount of time that he slept that night, it would probably come to about three and a half hours. And it was a common known fact that Malfoys needed at least eight hours to be on the top of their game.

About five minutes later he was up and getting changed into his school uniform and when he looked into the mirror he tried to ignore the dark circles under his eyes. Putting a comb once through his hair, he grabbed his homework and headed out the door.

Crabbe and Goyle were already waiting for him in the Slytherin Common Room, but Pansy wasn't anywhere in the area. When the two of them saw Draco, they fell into step behind him and all three of them headed for the door.

"Have you two seen Pansy?" Draco wanted to know as they stepped through the entrance. "I haven't seen her since dinner last night."

"Nope," Goyle replied. "We were only in the common room about five minutes before you showed up."

"And it couldn't have been soon enough," Crabbe added. "Let me tell you, Draco, I am starving. I'm going to eat three omelets, four blueberry muffins and five pancakes. What about you, Goyle?"

"That and more," Goyle said, nodding his head at the other large boy. "Time will tell, my friend. Time will tell."

Draco rolled his eyes as he led the way to the Great Hall. He had suddenly lost his appetite.

* * *

Hermione sat alone at the end of the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. She had a blue berry muffin and an egg, sunny side up on her plate, barely eaten. After breakfast she and Pansy had agreed to meet in the library on the second floor to exchange homework assignments. She had arrived to breakfast early so that she could go over things before taking off to Pansy's classes.

So when she saw Draco with his goons walking up to her, she closed her textbook and shoved it into her bag. There was no way she was going to get any studying done now.

"Hey, Pans," Draco smiled, sliding into the seat across from her while Crabbe and Goyle sat on either side of him and immediately began scooping food onto their plates. "You sure got up early."

"Not too early," Hermione said, sticking her fork into the center of the yolk and watching as it ran down the sides. "I've only been here for about ten minutes."

"Oh," he said. "Maybe it's me who's late."

Crabbe nodded at him as he stuffed a forkful of hash browns into his mouth. "We had to wait forever for you to come out of your room," he said. "And did I mention that we're starving?"

"Yes," Draco said through clenched teeth. "You did."

The four of them finished up their breakfasts and then headed on to their classes. If today was any hint about how the next two weeks of being a Slytherin would be, Hermione was not excited about it at all.

* * *

Hermione rushed up the library steps and went to the corner table to meet Pansy, who was already sitting there.

"I hope you don't make this late thing a habit," Pansy said. "I'm going to be late for your classes if we don't hurry this up."

Hermione flopped her books on the table and handed her all of her assignments. "It's not my fault," she said. "Draco needed some last minute encouragement on his Transfiguration essay. So if you want to blame someone, blame him."

"Yeah, yeah," Pansy rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Now give me your homework."

Hermione handed her five folders, each with the names of her classes on them. "Each assignment for each class is located in the right side of the folder," she explained. "Now your homework?"

Pansy plopped down one thick folder. "It's all inside," she said, smiling. "Somewhere, anyway. I trust you'll find what you need."

Hermione frowned at her. "Your grades, not mine," she said. "And fine." She scooped up the folder and put it into her bag. "And there's one more thing I wanted to talk to you about," she said as she took a seat across from Pansy.

Pansy looked bored. "Do we have time for this?" she asked, glancing up at the huge library clock.

"It'll just take a second," Hermione assured her. "I wanted to ask you about Ron. Yesterday I saw him up here pouting about something. Did something happen to make him so upset?"

"Not that I know about," Pansy answered. "But Ginny approached me yesterday about it, so I'm assuming something happened behind my back or something. When I find out about it, I'll let you know. But in the meantime, I've gotta get to class or you'll be late." She stood up and picked up her backpack.

"Yes," Hermione said, standing up as well. "Let's plan on meeting at the same time tomorrow morning to exchange homework assignments."

"It's a deal," Pansy replied, rushing off down the stairs. "See you later!" she called.

A few moments later, Hermione followed her down the stairs and out into the hallways.

* * *

Halfway through the day, Pansy was beginning to realize just how horrible it was to be Hermione in class. The professors always called on her and expected her to know every answer to every question. And when Pansy didn't know, everyone gave her these strange looks… like something was wrong with her. Professor McGonagall even asked if she wanted to go to the nurse. Pansy had, of course, insisted that she was fine, and the class went on without too many more hitches.

After a long and quiet lunch with Harry and Ron, the three of them rushed down to the dungeons for Potions class and took their normal seats. Well, Harry and Ron did anyway. Pansy had to sit in Hermione's seat, of course.

"Just where do you think you're sitting, Miss Granger?" Professor Snape said, his big nose in the air.

Pansy looked back at him. "In my seat, Professor. Is that okay with you?"

"Don't get smart with me, Miss Granger. I've decided that you and Miss Parkinson will be permanent partners due to your wonderful teamwork last week. You may have your seat next to her," Snape explained.

Pansy looked over at Hermione, who looked back at her, and they both gave a silent sigh. Pansy picked up her things and avoided looking at either Ron or Harry and walked slowly over to the Slytherin side of the room. She had had enough of Hermione's friends to last herself a lifetime.

She set her things down on the desk next to Hermione and then sat down, thankful to be away from the brooding duo also known as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

"Things are bad," she whispered to Hermione when Snape turned to write a formula on the board. "Ron and Harry didn't say a word to each other during lunch. I think they're fighting about something."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Try and get it out of them. I'd try Harry first. Ron holds grudges."

Pansy gave a nod just as Snape turned to glare at them. "Sharing secrets?" he asked. "Care to share it with the class?"

Both Hermione and Pansy shook their heads.

"Then I trust you'll be deathly quiet throughout the rest of the class."

"Yes, Professor," both girls said in unison, and then looked back down at their books.

* * *

Later that afternoon, a small crowd was gathering around the Quidditch field, consisting mostly of team members, prospective players and die hard fans. Pansy had come to see who would make the Slytherin team this year seeing as several of the starters had graduated the previous year.

She stood next to the warming up area and watched several Gryffindor players flying around in circles on their brooms. It wasn't long that she was staring up at them when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" Harry wanted to know.

"I just came to watch and see how you guys were doing," she replied. It seemed like something Hermione would do, anyway. "You're on the team for sure, right?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, they made me captain this year."

For someone who was so excited about Quidditch all the time, he seemed pretty down and out about the subject. But then again, Harry seemed pretty down about most things lately. Pansy decided to take the opportunity to find out what was going on, as Hermione had instructed her to do.

"Hey, Harry," she said, turning to face him and putting on a very concerned look as she imagined Hermione wore often when it came to her dear friends. "Are you okay? You've been so quiet lately…"

"I'm fine," Harry said quickly, turning away from her slightly. "Just a little nervous about tryouts today."

"Why are you nervous?" Pansy wondered. "You're already on the team."

"I know… It's just that Ron isn't for sure. I'm afraid he might be upset if he doesn't make it," Harry explained. "And you know how Ron gets when he's… well…"

"Jealous?" Pansy guessed.

"Well, yeah," Harry confirmed. "And he's already upset enough as it is."

"Harry," Pansy said, pushing him over to the bench outside of the changing rooms. "Can I talk to you about Ron?"

Harry looked positively terrified as they sat down next to each other on the bench. "Sure…" he said slowly. "What about Ron?"

"Well, everyone has been asking me what's going on with him," she said truthfully, looking down at her hands. "But honestly, I don't know what to tell them because he hasn't confided in me about what's going on."

"I see…" Harry said quietly, looking down as well.

"I sort of feel out of the loop," she confessed. "Did you guys get into a fight or something?"

Harry looked off to the side at several second years talking about how they were the best Quidditch players in their class. "I guess you could say that," he admitted. "It's just a little awkward, that's all. It'll blow over in a few days. Most likely…"

She wondered if Hermione even knew these guys. She had said that Harry would be the most open out of the two, but so far, the only information she had gained was that Harry and Ron had gotten into some sort of argument and they didn't feel like talking to each other currently. She wanted a subject matter, damn it! How in the hell was she supposed to get through these next two weeks around Hermione's dumb friends if all they were going to do is ignore each other or bicker?

She decided she might as well come out and ask him. What did she have to lose? This was Hermione's life, anyway. "Are you sure?" she asked. "What did you guys have a fight about, anyway?"

But her questions made Harry look even more withdrawn from the conversation. "It's really not a big deal," he told her. "It's just some stupid boy thing that you probably wouldn't understand."

Pansy sighed. "Come on, Harry. How long have I been your best friend now?" When he didn't say anything, she answered for him. "Almost six years! We've been friends for such a long time, and you think I wouldn't understand?"

Harry glanced over at her and then looked away once again. "It's just… personal," he muttered. "Please don't worry about it. In a few days it'll all be over, and we can go back to being normal."

"Okay," Pansy gave up. This was obviously a topic that Harry did not want to discuss with her. What could it possibly be if he wouldn't tell his best friend? "Well, I'll let you get back to your Quidditch buddies," she said, standing up and turning to face him. "But if you change your mind and want to talk about anything… you know where to find me, okay?"

"Thanks, Hermione," Harry said, a small smile creeping onto his face. "Stay and watch the tryouts, okay?"

Pansy nodded. "Wouldn't miss it," she promised as she watched him walk back into the dressing rooms. It was getting easier and easier to play Hermione, she noticed. If she didn't think about it too much, she almost felt like Harry's loyal friend.


	5. Chapter 5 Quidditch Blues

**Author's Note: Sorry it's a day late! I was a... bit busy yesterday... heh heh... . ; Hope everyone is still enjoying the story!! **

* * *

**  
Time for a Change   
Chapter Five  
By: Lori Finnegan  
2006  
**

Hermione and Draco rushed onto the Quidditch field just as the Gryffindor team was finishing tryouts. Next was Slytherin, and Draco had mentioned about five times on their way there how much he abhorred being late.

"Good!" he grinned when he saw the red and gold colors flying high and fast on their brooms above his head. "I'm just in time."

Hermione looked up and spotted Harry and Ron flying among the others and hoped all was well between them.

"Are you paying attention to me?" Draco wanted to know, tapping her shoulder lightly with the end of his broom until she looked at him. "How do you like the new uniforms my father bought for our team?"

Hermione looked him over from his black boots to his green robes and smiled. "They look great," she said honestly, "and expensive."

"Nothing but the best for our team," Draco added, smoothing down the creases on his shirt and once again reminding Hermione of the part of Draco's personality that she despised.

"Who are you showing off for, anyway?" she wanted to know, her hands on her hips.

Her statement caught him off guard, and he looked up at her, his mouth open. "What do you mean, Pans?" he asked. "I'm not showing off for anyone. It's just important that the best team looks the best, that's all."

"Whatever," she said, turning slightly away to look at the Gryffindor players flying above them. No matter what she said to Draco, there wasn't any way he'd see where she was coming from. He was the type of wizard who didn't change his mind about anything unless the truth hit him right in the face. And even then it was a gamble. "Forget I said anything," she said, glancing back at him. "The new uniforms look great."

"Thanks," he mumbled. "I think. Hey, Pans, is everything okay?"

"What do you mean?" she said, turning to face him once again.

"You just seem… different sometimes. You sure you don't want to talk about anything?"

"I'm sure," she answered. "And if you don't get into the changing room with your teammates, they're going to wonder where you are, Mr. Captain." She winked at him, and he grinned widely.

"You're right!" he said, dashing off towards the rest of the team. "See you in the stands!"

* * *

"Since when does a second year make the team over a sixth year!?" Ron fumed as Pansy chased him down the hallway, his robes bellowing behind him.

"Ron, don't take it so hard," she said, trying to calm him down so he would tell her what was going on between him and Harry instead of having to listen to him go on and on about Quidditch. "It's just a stupid game, anyway!"

Ron stopped dead in his tracks and spun around to face her. "A stupid game?" he asked, almost breathlessly, as if trying to convince himself that she had actually called Quidditch stupid. "Quidditch is not a stupid game, Hermione. It is the best game in the world!"

Pansy suddenly had no interest in chasing him. Anyone who thought that much of a ball game had to have some sort of a screw loose somewhere. "Okay," she said, putting her hands up slightly. "So it's not stupid. But it's not like your life is over just because you didn't make the team. There's always next year, right?"

Ron's face turned a deep shade of red. He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't, and then turned around and continued his stalk towards the Gryffindor dormitories.

"Ron, wait!" Pansy called after him as she ran to catch up. "I didn't mean to upset you!"

She followed him until they were both in the Gryffindor Common Room and then stepped right in front of the staircase to the boys' dormitories so that he couldn't get by her. "Quit being such a jerk, Ron, and sit down and talk to me."

The frown on Ron's red face did not fade. "Step aside, Hermione," he said. "I don't like to push girls."

"Oh, quit it," she rolled her eyes. "I'm sick of you and Harry acting like you don't even want to look at each other. So, if you know what's good for you, you'll sit down and tell me what's going on."

He stared at her.

"Now!" she clarified. "Go on!"

Ron gave an aggravated sigh and went to sit on a couch near the back of the room and underneath the staircase. "What is it," he demanded. "You better make this short."

"I don't know what right you have to speak to me with that tone," Pansy said, sitting on the chair opposite from him. "But you better tell me right now why you're so angry and Harry is so quiet. I know bloody well you know what's going on, Ron, so don't play dumb with me!"

Ron propped his head up on the palm of his hand and glanced out at the purple sky. "To be honest with you, Hermione, I swore Harry I wouldn't tell anyone about it, so there's no way I can tell you."

Pansy glared at him as he stared out the window. This just figured. "What in the world is going on that you guys can't tell me about? You know how this feels to me, Ron?" She decided to play the guilt card. "When my two best friends can't confide in me? It makes me feel very left out, that's what."

"Gee, I'm sorry, Hermione," Ron groaned as he turned away from the window to look at her. "But you just gotta trust me on this one. We're not trying to leave you out, I swear. It's just best that you're not involved. It'll only make things more complicated than they already are."

Pansy folded her arms over her chest. "Well, excuse me for being concerned about and wanting to help my friends. Next time I won't even bother."

"Aw, Hermione, don't say that," Ron begged. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad and neither does Harry. You just have to trust us, okay?"

Pansy stood up, deciding to play hard to get. "Fine," she agreed, "but don't expect me to come to you when I have problems of my own," she said, stalking away and walking down the stairs to the girls' dormitory, where she knew he wouldn't dare follow. When Hermione had asked Pansy to figure out what was going on with her two best friends, she really had no idea what she was asking.

* * *

When Draco and Hermione walked into the Great Hall for dinner, the whole Slytherin table cheered and began chanting Draco's name. Earlier that afternoon, Hermione had watched him soar around on his broom from the Slytherin stands. Draco had caught the snitch so quickly, that the rest of the team and most of the crowd, on the Slytherin side at least, had given him a standing ovation. Hermione wasn't sure Draco's already bloated head could take the extra confidence. She feared he may explode.

"Thank you, thank you," Draco said, giving the table a wave as he and Hermione sat down across from Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise Zabini.

Hermione rolled her eyes and began to fill her plate with the different sorts of delicacies that lined the table. This was just what she needed. Just when she was beginning to see the other kind side of Draco and had imagined her stay with the Slytherins as bearable, Quidditch had to start and ruin it for her.

"That was some show out there, Draco," Blaise said as he scooped a creamy soup into his bowl. "You caught the snitch even before the others got a chance to show off their skills."

"It wasn't that quickly," Draco replied.

Hermione couldn't believe that he was trying to be modest.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Blaise exclaimed. "I was timing it from the stands! You caught that snitch in less than forty seconds!"

Draco took a bite of his roll and washed it down with some milk. "I guess it was sort of fast, wasn't it," he admitted.

This conversation went on for about ten minutes until Hermione couldn't stand it anymore and stood up from the bench, stepping over it. It was almost six o'clock and time to meet Pansy anyway. "I've got some homework to get started on," she announced. "I'll see you guys later."

* * *

This time it was Pansy who arrived at their table to find Hermione waiting patiently for her.

"I arrived early," she explained as Pansy sat down. "Your friends were giving me a headache at dinner tonight."

Pansy laughed at her and then stopped abruptly. "My friends are giving you a headache?" she asked. "Your friends are absolutely horrid! You know that neither Harry nor Ron will give me the slightest clue as to what's going on? Both of them are completely stubborn!"

Hermione folded her arms. "You didn't have to tell me that. I know they're stubborn."

"Well, then, why didn't you warn me about exactly how stubborn they are? I seriously think Ron hates you now!"

"What did you do?" Hermione demanded, her hands on the table in front of herself.

Pansy sighed, propping up her head on the palm of her hand. "Ron was all upset over not making the Quidditch team, and I suppose it wasn't the best time for me to bring it up… but after Harry wouldn't give me one clue about what was happening, I didn't have any other choice but to go to Ron. So I asked him, and he was not pleased, if you can imagine."

"Oh, I can imagine," Hermione assured Pansy. "Trust me, I can."

Pansy looked over at her. "So yeah, I laid the guilt trip on him. I told him that the next time something was bothering me I would most certainly not be telling him. Then I ran off to your room."

"Oh, he doesn't hate you," Hermione brushed her off. "You actually did quite well, if I do say so myself. Perhaps Ron might come to you later on. You know, after he cools off about the whole Quidditch thing," she pondered, "which may be a while."

Pansy sighed. "Your friends are incredibly impossible," she stated. "And I can't wait to be back to being myself. Your life is absolutely exhausting, Hermione."

Hermione matched her sigh. "Tell me about it," she muttered. No matter whose shoes she was in, perhaps she was destined to bring trouble to wherever she went.

* * *

Draco felt like he was on top of the world that evening as he returned from dinner, a group of Slytherins following behind him. Everyone was excited for a great Quidditch season that year, and it was wonderful to see results such as Draco's miraculous catch earlier that day.

They all entered the Slytherin Common Room with loud cheers and excited chatter. Someone brought out some bottles of butterbeer and started passing them out. Draco was about to take a swig of the sweet liquid when he noticed Pansy sitting at the end of the room with her nose buried in a book. He set the bottle down on a table and walked over to her.

"Something wrong?" he wanted to know. "You're not participating in the pre-season party."

Pansy didn't even bother to lower her book to look at him. "I told you, I have a lot of homework tonight," she said.

He sat down next to her on the couch and put his arm around her shoulders. "C'mon, Pans," he begged. "A party isn't a party without you."

"So you say," she said, leaning away from him and continuing to read her book.

"Aw, Pans, don't be such a party pooper." He leaned into her, wrapping one arm around her waist and snatching the book with his other hand. When she tried to reach for it, he held her firmly so that she couldn't even get near it.

"I'm about to hit you in the nose, Draco Malfoy," she growled, but he just laughed at her. Pansy's new studious attitude intrigued him.

"You wouldn't dare," he grinned at her.

She balled her fist and drew back as though she were seriously going to hit him. He dropped her book on the cushion beside himself and grabbed her wrist, laughing.

"Oh, come now," he mumbled, their noses almost touching. "You certainly couldn't harm my perfect cheek bones, now could you?"

Pansy laughed out loud and shoved him away. "Oh, please, Draco," she said, reaching behind him for her book. "You think the world of yourself, don't you?"

He ran his fingers through his hair and looked down his pointy nose at her. "Why, of course. I am perfect, you know."

Pansy gave him one last shove. "Tell me about it," she groaned.

"Playing footsie in the corner?" Blaise Zabini said as he approached them. "My, my, Draco."

"Oh, shut up," Draco said, standing up from his seat on the couch. "I was just trying to save a party pooper, that's all. C'mon, Pans," he said, grabbing the unopened bottle of butter beer from Blaise's right hand and holding it out to Pansy. "And join me in the festivities."

Pansy snatched the bottle from Draco's hand and stood up. "Only if you're nice," she grinned, popping the top off the bottle. "And you find some how to deflate that balloon head of yours, that is," she muttered.

Draco's eyes widened and then narrowed at her. "Balloon head?" he demanded as several Slytherins behind him began laughing. "I am not a balloon head!" he fumed.

* * *

Harry had just gotten back from the team's first Quidditch practice that evening. He opened the door to his dormitory and plopped his Quidditch gear down next to his trunk. The curtains around Ron's bed were pulled, but Harry knew he couldn't be sleeping. For one, it was much too early, and for another thing, Harry knew his friend didn't have an easy time sleeping when he was angry.

Harry put his things into his trunk and changed into his pajamas. After tryouts, Ron had stormed off so quickly, that Harry, being still in the sky, hadn't gotten a chance to say a single word to him. Even though they weren't exactly on the best of terms currently, Harry still felt bad that Ron hadn't made the team. He knew how much Quidditch meant to Ron, after all.

Feeling sorry for his friend, Harry walked over to Ron's four poster bed, and stood there in front of it. "Hey, Ron," he said. "It's me. Harry. Can we talk?"

He stood there for a moment, waiting for a response. And when he realized he wasn't going to get one, he opened Ron's curtain on his own and looked down at his friend, who was lying on his back, still half dressed in his Quidditch gear, and staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his back.

"What is it, Harry?" he muttered. "Come to rub it in?"

"Rub what in, Ron?" Harry demanded. "Have you forgotten that I'm your friend?"

Ron turned away from him resting his head on his arm. "No," he said. "I haven't forgotten. I'm just asking for some time alone. Is that okay with you?"

"It's fine with me," Harry replied. "I just wanted to say that I wish you were on the team, and I'm sorry you didn't make it."

"Sure," Ron mumbled.

Harry stood for another moment, staring at his friend's back, and then closed the curtains. Ron would be okay, he surmised. This was something he'd eventually get over. Harry went back to his own bed and took out his picture book. He flipped through the pages until he came to one in particular.

There in the center of the page was an animated picture of himself, Ron and Hermione, their arms around each other and waving at the camera at the end of their fifth year. He wished that he could somehow get that Harry back… but he knew it was impossible. His thoughts and feelings were forever changed.

* * *

Pansy entered the Gryffindor Common Room after a few hours in the library working on her homework. She stepped inside the room and saw Ginny Weasley sitting in the middle of a couch, her homework spread over the coffee table.

"Your brother is a real piece of work," Pansy said when Ginny looked up at her. "You know that, right?"

Ginny looked back down at her books. "Of course I know that," she said. "I did grow up with him, after all."

"Right," Pansy said, flopping down on a chair besides the couch. The last thing she wanted at the moment was to return to her dormitory and listen to Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil talk about their latest crushes like they had until midnight the night before. "Anyway," she said, "I tried to figure out what Ron was angry about, and he wouldn't give me one hint except that he had promised Harry he wouldn't tell anyone."

Ginny put down her quill and looked over at Pansy. "What's this with boys keeping secrets? It's just not right!"

Pansy sighed and leaned back into the cozy chair. "Tell me about it," she groaned.

"Don't worry, Hermione," Ginny comforted. "I know all of the little tricks to get inside Ron's tiny little skull. I'll figure it out, and you'll be the first one I'll tell!"

"Thanks, Ginny," Pansy said, and she really was grateful. At least someone in the Gryffindor house seemed to be on her side. Maybe they could all get past this little secret and live the next two weeks out in peace. Though somehow she highly doubted it. "And good luck to you," she added. "You'll need it."

* * *

At ten o'clock, Hermione had finally escaped an oddly entertaining Slytherin house party and returned to her dormitory for some last minute studying before the night was over. She had showered, put on Pansy's prettiest nightgown and sat on the bed with her homework.

It was then that there was a knock at her door. "Come in," she said, knowing that it was most likely Draco.

The door opened and Hermione was shocked to see Blaise Zabini standing there with his hand on the door knob. "Hi, Pansy," he said, closing the door behind them. "I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd be dressed for bed already…"

"It's okay," Hermione said, sure that she was blushing slightly. "Is everything alright?"

Blaise sat down on the chair besides the bed and handed her a scroll. "It's just my Transfiguration essay. Draco said that you helped him with his, so I was wondering if you'd take a look at mine. It's almost done, but I could use a few pointers." He paused while she unraveled the scroll. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," she said, giving him a small smile. "But I have to finish some things up of my own right now. Is it okay if I give it back to you in the morning?"

Blaise smiled back. "Sure," he said. "Geez, I'm glad I came. Draco said that you would never help anyone besides him, but I was sure glad he was wrong."

Hermione stared at him. Was this true? Had she somehow stepped over a line? "It's really no big deal," she told Blaise. "Besides, looking over an essay is completely different than what I did for Draco. I'm sure he won't be jealous."

"Thanks a lot," Blaise said, jumping up and moving toward the door. "See you tomorrow, Pansy!"

"Bye," Hermione waved as he closed the door, and she was once again alone in Pansy's room. She hoped Draco wouldn't become suspicious of her just because she told Blaise she'd help him with his essay.

* * *

Ginny Weasley pulled a brush through her crimson locks and looked at herself thoughtfully in the mirror. She had spend the morning thinking about how to get Ron to spill his guts, and she was finally ready, she decided, as she set her brush back down on her dresser and pulled her hair up into a pony tail.

"I'll know his secret," she muttered as she closed the dormitory door behind herself. "There's no way I can fail when it comes to manipulating my own brother."

* * *

Ron was walking down the hall on his way to Herbology when he was suddenly attacked and shoved to his left. He just narrowly missed the wall, and went stumbling out a door and onto the grass as he regained his balance.

"Ginny!" he exclaimed, looking up to see his sister standing in the doorway. "Just what in bloody hell do you think you're doing, shoving me around like that?"

Ginny walked down the slight slope of grass to meet him. "I'm sorry, Ron, but you've been such a git lately, you deserve it."

Ron looked down at her red head and glared. "Excuse me?" he demanded. "And what exactly have I been a git about?"

"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed. "You know, she came to me upset about how you and Harry were keeping secrets from her. You've really left her out, Ron."

"Ugh," Ron groaned. "If you even knew what this was about, you'd just mind your own business, Ginny."

"Hermione is my friend, too," Ginny let him know. "And you and Harry are giving her the run around! She cares for you, and I can't believe you won't even let her in!"

Ron tried to get around Ginny so that he could continue on his way to Herbology class, but Ginny stood in the doorway with her hands on each side so that he couldn't pass. "Ginny, get out of the way," Ron said. "You don't even know what you're talking about."

"Are you completely dense, Ronald Weasley?" Ginny said, not budging. "You've hurt Hermione's feelings. Now what are you going to do about it?" When Ron didn't say anything, she went on. "Fine. If you're not going to tell me what's going on, then go on and tell Hermione. She deserves that much."

"I can't tell her, Ginny, I swear I can't!" Ron protested, moving back and forth in front of her, trying to squeeze by somehow, but failing miserably. "If you knew what this was about then you would agree with me."

"Then tell me," Ginny demanded.

"No way! Now move aside, Ginny, or I'm going to be late for Herbology!"

Ginny sighed. "Fine," she relented. "Don't tell me. But when you end up losing Hermione over it, don't blame me." And she turned around, stalking back through the doorway and into the halls.

Ron stood there in the doorway, staring at her back as she walked. Ginny couldn't possibly be right about Hermione, could he? Would Hermione actually discontinue their friendship if she didn't know about this secret of Harry's?

But then again, if he told Hermione, Harry would definitely hate him forever. He didn't know what to do and whose friendship he should value more.

Head spinning, he walked silently to his Herbology class.

* * *

Hermione had arrived early, as usual, to her Transfiguration class with Professor McGonagall, and she sat on the Slytherin side of the room, which was not usual.

Draco slid in next to her after about five minutes and slapped his scroll on the table. "All ready to turn in your assignment?" he wanted to know, grinning at her.

"Of course," she smiled back. "And you better be ready to turn yours in, or else." She balled her fist to threaten him.

"Of course," he echoed. "You did put the finishing touches on it, after all."

"This is true," she agreed, pulling the scroll out of her backpack that Pansy had handed her after breakfast that morning. "And I'm sure you'll get an A on it."

"I'm not so sure," Draco disagreed, leaning back in his wooden chair with his hands behind his head. "I mean, your parts of it are great, but I think it's still lacking a little. I should have worked on it last night, but I stayed up a little too late in the common room."

"Figures," Hermione rolled her eyes at him and took her quill and ink out of her bag just as Pansy walked in with Harry right behind her. Hermione looked over at them from the corner of her eye as they took their seats on the other side of the room. She silently wondered where Ron was and why he wasn't with them.

"Look at those two," Draco whispered into her ear, almost making her jump right out of her seat. "They think they're so special sitting in the first row all the time."

Hermione turned to him to glare. "What if they just want to learn?" she hissed back at him. "Geez, Draco, what right do you have to assume things like that about people you barely know?"

Draco leaned away from her. "What's with you?" he whispered so that the others wouldn't hear him. "It's like you're suddenly Harry Potter's number one fan or something. You don't have a little crush on him… or do you?"

Hermione turned away from him and folded her arms over her chest. "Of course not," she whispered back. "I just think it's rude how you treat other people when you really have no idea what they're going through."

"And you do?" Draco demanded.

"No, but I don't assume," she stated. "And neither should you."

Draco turned away from her, pouting. "You are no fun, Pans," he muttered. "You know that, don't you? What fun is making fun of Potter and friends if you won't let me… well, make fun of them?"

Hermione doodled a flower at the corner of her notebook. "Find something else to do to pass your time," she suggested.

"Yeah, sure," Draco scoffed. "I'll just go plant flowers with Longbottom."

"Ha, ha," Hermione laughed sarcastically, glancing over just as Neville took his seat behind Harry and Pansy. "You're so funny, Draco."

"Of course I am," Draco said as he puffed his chest out. "I have all of the best qualities. It's what makes me a Malfoy, of course."

She couldn't help but laugh at him. Even though his head was bloated there was a certain charm about his smirk. That and every time his fat head took over it almost sounded like he was making fun of himself.

* * *

As Professor McGonagall started her lecture, Harry poked Hermione's shoulder. "Hey," he whispered. "Have you seen Ron lately? It's sort of odd that he's not in class yet."

"Isn't he usually running late?" Hermione whispered back.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," he agreed, leaning away from his friend. But he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. He had barely spoken to Ron all morning, Ron hadn't shown up for lunch in the Great Hall, and now he was missing from class.

He kept checking the door all throughout the class but every person who walked by was not Ron Weasley.

After they turned in their essays, Harry quickly told Hermione he'd see her in Potions, grabbed his things and rushed out of the room to find Ron. He first checked the Common Room and then his dormitory, but Ron was nowhere to be found. He ran down the stairs, past a couple of younger Gryffindors playing chess and flew out the through the door. He rushed to the library, thinking Ron had gone where he didn't think he'd be found, but Ron wasn't there either.

Harry ran all over the castle, ignoring those who called out at him, those who were wondering where he was going in such a hurry, and Professor Snape, who reminded him that class started in five minutes, and he had better get a move on or he was going to be late. He ignored them all until finally he arrived on the balcony of the north towers, and he stopped, trying to catch his breath.

In front of him stood Ron, and he hadn't noticed Harry's presence.

"Ron," Harry said breathlessly, watching as his friend turned around to look at him.

Ron turned around to see Harry standing at the arch that led to the highest balcony in the castle. He was leaning against the concrete, breathing heavily. Ron was sure he had ran up every flight of stairs without once stopping.

"What is it?" he asked, turning back around to look out at the afternoon sky.

"You missed Transfiguration class," he heard Harry say. "I was worried, so I came looking for you."

"Well, I'm fine, so you can go back to doing whatever it was you were doing," Ron replied.

"I see that you're fine," Harry said, walking up besides him and leaning his arms against the railing. "But did you forget that your essay was due? McGonagall is going to mark off ten points just for it being late."

"Whatever," Ron mumbled. "I needed a break. I needed to think."

"About what?" Harry inquired.

"Stuff," Ron replied, quickly glancing over at him. "Okay, fine, I'll tell you."

Harry looked at him, wide eyed. "Um, okay," he said.

Ron sighed, leaning further over the railing and looking down at the fading scenery below the clouds. "This whole thing is driving me nuts, Harry," he said. "Yesterday Hermione demanded to know what was going on and what we were keeping from her, so I told her that I promised you I wouldn't tell anyone. Then this morning, Ginny practically knocks me over to say that I better choose whose friendship is more important to me because she thinks I'm being completely unreasonable about not telling Hermione." He took a deep breath and stood up straight, facing Harry. "What the hell am I supposed to do, Harry?"

Harry stood up straight as well. "Well, you certainly can't tell her!" he exclaimed. "I'm sorry, but… you just can't!"

"I know!" he yelled back. "Why do you think I'm up here tormenting myself over it!?"

Harry didn't reply, so Ron took a few steps back to the railing.

"If you ask me," Ron said in a much quieter voice. "Ginny's overreacting about Hermione. I don't think she's all that upset about it."

"She didn't seem upset," Harry added in. "Not when she talked to me, anyway. She did seem concerned, though."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "But what am I supposed to say to her?"

He heard Harry sigh behind them, and the two of them were silent for a few moments as the wind blew past them, turning their ears red and blowing their hair into their faces.

"Hey, I have an idea," Harry said, grabbing Ron's sweater so that he turned to face him. "What if we make up something else? Like, a different secret. Then you can tell that secret to Hermione, and she'll never know about the real one."

Ron stared at him for a short moment. "I don't know, Harry. That seems a little underhanded. Especially for you."

"I'm not the one who'll be lying though," Harry replied. "It's all believable, really."

"So, I'm the bad guy," Ron clarified for him. "I don't think so."

Harry held up his hands. "I'm just trying to help you out here, mate."

Ron gave him a half smile and then turned back around to the view. "I think I'll pass," he said. "But thanks, Harry, really."

"Anything," Harry replied. "But don't think you can just stand out here forever. Potions started fifteen minutes ago and Snape is going to kill us when we walk in late."

"Oh, hell," Ron said, picking up his backpack from the ground and following Harry down the many stairs.


	6. Chapter 6 A Stolen Kiss

**Author's Note: Once again, thanks for the reviews. I'm almost done writing chapter 12... so hopefully once I catch up with posting I'll have even more chapters ready. Stay tuned! I'll be posting chapter 7 next Sunday. **

* * *

**Time for a Change  
Chapter Six  
By: Lori Finnegan  
2006**

On the way out of Potions, Draco and Blaise walked in front of Hermione, elbowing each other in the ribs and laughing about something or other, though Hermione had a pretty good idea of what. Behind her, Crabbe and Goyle were fantasizing about their next meal, and Hermione, being sandwiched between four too many Slytherins, couldn't wait to grab a bag lunch from the Great Hall and sneak unnoticed back to Pansy's room for a long study session.

But before they arrived at the Great Hall, Draco crept up besides Hermione and had his arm around her waist before she could hit him away.

"So how about some late night Arithmancy lessons?" he said into her ear.

Hermione shoved him away so hard that he spent the next minute or so rubbing his shoulder. "You wish, Balloon Head," she muttered. "I've got tons of my own homework to do, so I most certainly won't be doing yours for you."

Draco jumped in front of her, walking backwards as they moved along the hall. "I wasn't talking about homework," he winked. "But if you insist. I'll just spend my night alone, studying my Arithmancy all by my lonesome."

She shoved past him. "You are disgusting!" she exclaimed, and rushed ahead of the group. "See you guys later, I have too much homework to think about dinner!"

Just before she turned around, she caught a glimpse of Blaise waving back at her as Draco pouted. Crabbe and Goyle, on the other hand, were still drooling, imagining what was to come when they reached the Great Hall.

* * *

After Potions, Harry was still thinking of his conversation with Ron. He should have never told Ron about his feelings for Hermione, but it was too late now. He had already done the damage.

He thought about just telling Hermione about everything just to get it out in the open so that Ron's relationship with Hermione would be spared, but the thought of actually saying the words out loud so that Hermione's ears would hear them, scared him beyond reason.

That was definitely not an option. Not right now, anyway.

He opened the door to his dormitory, Ron and Neville following in behind him. They all set their things down and settled themselves in the room. Harry sat on his bed and pulled out his Transfiguration homework from his back pack.

"You know," he heard Neville say from the other side of the room. "Something seems really peculiar to me lately."

"Oh?" Ron and Harry said in unison.

"Yeah…" Neville went on as Harry turned to look at him. "It's Hermione."

Harry's head spun towards Ron, his eyes wide as if to say, 'I told you so.'

"She's just different than she usually is," Neville continued, and Harry and Ron's heads snapped back to look at him. "Have you two noticed?" he asked. "Is there something going on that I don't know about?" When neither Harry nor Ron said anything, Neville sat down on his bed and gave a nervous smile. "I mean, you don't have to tell me if it's not something she'd like shared, but I was just concerned."

"No," Harry said finally. "It's okay. And actually, we don't know what's going on with her either. I was just thinking that something seemed a little off a few days ago, but this dolt here," he stuck his thumb over his shoulder at Ron, "assured me that everything was ship shape, and I was thinking too much about things."

"I don't know," Neville sighed, looking down at his hands. "It's not really in an obvious sort of way… but it's just small things. Like, last week, Hermione told me she'd help me with my Potions homework… but then when I asked her about it yesterday, she gave me a really strange look before agreeing. It was as if she had no idea what I was talking about."

"Maybe she was just distracted or something," Ron offered.

"Maybe," Harry considered. "I think I'm going to talk to her again though… and see if something is bothering her, or if something is on her mind that she hasn't been talking to us about."

"I still think you're overreacting," Ron muttered.

"Even so, Ron," Harry said, turning towards him. "If something is bothering her, we should try our best to help her."

Ron narrowed his eyes at Harry. "Perhaps what's bothering her is that a certain someone won't tell her a certain thing that's been on his mind."

"Hey," Harry said, his voice rising slightly. "That's not fair, Ron, and you know it."

Ron looked away from him. "Sorry," he mumbled, but Harry didn't think he meant it.

"Yeah," Harry said, getting up from his bed and walking towards the door. He looked back at both Ron, and then at Neville, who looked very confused about what had just transpired, and put his hand on the door knob. "See you guys later. I'm going to go find Hermione."

* * *

Pansy, looking incredibly suspicious, she was sure, had crept down into the dungeons and into her secret underground hideout and where she and Hermione were stashing their secret potion. She was sick of people looking at her and thinking she was Hermione. She just wanted to be herself and act like herself… and the Slytherin hideout was the only place she could think of where no one would even come close to bothering her, much less finding her.

Just as she was about to enter the room, a hand snatched her wrist. She gasped, looking up and wondering who had caught her.

"Hermione!" she hissed, seeing her own face staring at her with wide eyes.

"Yes, it's me!" Hermione hissed back. "What do you think you're doing down here? And you shouldn't call me that when anyone could come around the corner. People will either figure us out or think we're crazy!"

"I know!" Pansy said, wriggling her wrist away from Hermione's grasp. "You just startled me, geez! And why are we standing out here arguing? We should at least go inside." She pushed the door open and then pulled Hermione in by her sleeve.

"Good," Hermione agreed after the door was securely shut behind them. "I wanted to talk to you anyway. We didn't really have a lot of time to talk this morning."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Don't take this personally, Hermione, but chatting with you wasn't exactly the first thing on my list this morning."

"And speaking of which," Hermione said, continuing Pansy's train of thought. "How are things going with Harry and Ron? Have you figured out what's going on yet?"

"Ah," Pansy said, meaning to sound a bit disinterested so that this little talk wouldn't go on for too long. She did have massive homework, after all. "Trouble in paradise, obviously," she said. "Really, I have my suspicions, I mean, those two best friends of yours are completely transparent, but I haven't gotten either one of them to tell me anything definite."

Hermione gave a small, frustrated sigh. "Those two are so stubborn. But I don't know what I was expecting. They are boys, after all."

"You should have more girl friends," Pansy pondered. The only girl that Hermione seemed to be friends with so far was Ron's little sister, Ginny. And that was only by association, she suspected.

"You should talk!" Hermione exclaimed. "All you have are boys following after you day after day after day… I can't lose them!"

Pansy sighed and leaned against the door. "Maybe we should just both turn in our resignations and transfer to another school. An all girls' school. Do you know how less complicated that would make everything?"

"No kidding," Hermione agreed as she walked over towards the secret door on the left side of the room. "Hey, Pansy…" she said slowly. "Since we're here together, we might as well check on the potion."

"Good idea," Pansy said, and followed Hermione into the secret room.

* * *

After checking on the potion, Hermione no longer felt like sitting down to a long night of homework. Instead, she said a quick goodbye to Pansy and then headed up the stairs and out a side door of the castle. A nice long walk around the lake would be a nice break from the tension inside the Slytherin dungeons, and she really needed the fresh air.

As she pushed the door open, a cool gust of air hit her face, and then her arms and legs as she stepped out into the cold air. Quickly wrapping Pansy's cloak around herself, she walked over the yellowing grass and down the hill until she had reached the edge of the lake. The sun was a good distance from setting, so she figured if she walked quickly she could make it back before it was completely dark.

She was halfway around the lake and picking up her pace as the sun quickly slipped further down the sky when she saw a dark figure sitting on a bench. A little hesitant, she slowed down, squinting her eyes and trying to make out a face. But the sun was behind the bench, and whoever he was, was completely in silhouette.

As she stepped closer to the bench, the fear rose in her chest. That was until he turned to look at her and just the right amount of sun hit his face.

It was Harry!

When their eyes met, Harry quickly looked away from her. Hermione didn't know if she should say something to him, or just walk by without a word. If she said something, would he become suspicious of everything that was going on? Or would he think that perhaps Pansy was just being nice to him for a change?

She decided not to take a chance, and just kept on walking as she passed him.

"Wait," Harry said quietly, and she stopped in her tracks. "What are you doing here, walking around the lake all by yourself? It's almost dark."

Hermione turned around, her heart beating rapidly. "I can take care of myself," she said, looking back into his green eyes. "Don't worry about me."

Harry shrugged, standing up from the bench himself. "I'm going back," he announced, which seemed odd to Hermione. "You can walk back with me if you want."

And Hermione missed being his friend so much, that she waited for him to step up to her and they both walked down the lake path together. She wanted to tell him about everything that had occurred in the past few days, and let him talk about what he had been up to, and how much he and Ron had missed her…

But the truth was, they didn't miss her. They still had her because of Pansy. It was such a strange situation, and once again, Hermione felt like crying because of it all.

As they rounded the lake, she finally worked up the courage to talk to him as Pansy would. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"It's been a rough day," he said, putting his hands into the pockets of his robes. "I just don't have the energy for anything else."

"Oh," she said, still wanting to say so much more. "I really would have been fine walking on my own, though. You don't have to worry about me."

"Whatever," Harry mumbled.

The rest of the walk back to the castle was silent, but not at all awkward for Hermione. Just walking by his side was enough to fill the hole within her. She felt a little more reconnected to her friend, especially after the past few days.

Although, as she watched him walk up the stairs and back to the Gryffindor Tower, part of her felt cheated; like what she had been missing was just out of her reach. She sighed, and walked back to the Slytherin dungeons in hopes of avoiding everyone so that she could get started on her homework.

* * *

Harry arrived back in the Gryffindor Common Room around seven o'clock that evening to find Hermione sitting in a chair, reading a book, and jotting down notes into a notebook.

"There you are," he said, walking over to her and sitting down at the end of the couch. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

She looked up from her book. "Oh? You need me for something?"

Harry leaned up against the arm of the couch and propped his chin up on the palm of his hand. It hurt a little bit for Hermione to think that the only reason Harry would be looking for her was because he needed her for something. "No," he said, looking away from her face and into the fire. "I just wanted to talk to you about something."

Hermione finally put her books down and really looked at him. "What is it?"

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves, but it didn't really seem to be working. "Hermione," he finally said, his voice soft. "Ron and I have been talking lately…"

"That's great!" she suddenly grinned. "I was convinced that the two of you weren't getting along very well. But I'm glad to see that you've made up!"

"No," Harry went on, sitting up straight. "That's not really what we were talking about. I mean, yeah, we're getting along okay, I guess," he muttered. "But we were talking about you."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Me?"

"Yeah… it's just that… that you've been a little… different lately. And we can't really figure out what's going on, so instead of just talking about it behind your back I wanted to talk to you directly."

Hermione looked nervous all of a sudden, and her cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink. "What do you mean…" she said, "…different?"

Harry felt the tension go up in the room. He felt a little panicked and started to wonder if maybe he shouldn't have even brought the subject up with her. "I know you've denied it before," he went on, "but it really seems like there's something going on with you. And I'm your friend," he added. "I would hope that if something is bothering you, that you would trust me enough to share it with me."

She tapped the end of her quill on the arm of the chair thoughtfully. "Hmm, well, that's strange, Harry, because it seems like just a few days ago, I was saying the same thing to you. And you insisted that you couldn't tell me. Let's see… how is this situation similar?"

Harry felt his face turn red. She was right. During Quidditch tryouts it had been Hermione asking him if something was wrong. And he had completely brushed her aside, assuring her that everything was okay, and she didn't need to concern herself over his personal matters.

And now he knew how she felt.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking down at his hands. "You're right. I shouldn't have said anything." He stood up, and without meeting her gaze, began walking back towards the boys' dormitories. He had just reached the first stair when he felt her fingers wrapping around his arm.

"Wait," she said. "You can't just walk away from me like that!"

He turned around to look into her flashing eyes as he fought the tears in his own. He felt ashamed and stupid… and worst of all, he felt like he had let her down. How in the hell had this happened?

"I'm not mad," Hermione said. "So you don't have to look at me like that."

"How am I supposed to look?" he demanded, pulling his arm away from her grasp and stepping up another step to keep some distance between them. "I just asked you the same question that you asked me before. And I tried to make you feel guilty for not telling me what's going on in your life. And you're not mad?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "Hermione, I'm a horrible friend!"

She stepped up onto the first step, surprising him so much that he clutched the railing behind himself. "You're not," she assured him. "Do you know how many horrible friends I've had before? I've most certainly had enough to know that you're not one of them. So you made a mistake, and yeah, maybe you weren't thinking clearly… but who cares? You have my best interests in mind, don't you?"

Harry felt like his voice was caught in his throat. He tried to say something, but nothing came out.

They stood there staring at each other for a very long moment, until Harry just couldn't take it another second. He slipped his arms around her waist, and pulled her close, leaning down to plant a heavy kiss directly onto her lips.

It didn't last all that long, but to Harry, it seemed like a slow motion eternity until she pulled away from him, breathing heavily. Harry's blood pressure rose, and a silent alarm went off in his head. This was not something that he was supposed to do.

"I am really sorry, Hermione," he sputtered out, releasing her from his grasp and turning around so quickly to run up the stairs that she didn't even have a chance to respond.

* * *

Pansy stood at the bottom of the staircase that led to the boys' dormitories with her hand on her chest, still trying to catch her breath. She had never wondered what Harry Potter's kiss tasted like before, but at that second, when she could still taste his lips on her own, she wondered what it would be like if the kiss had lasted a little bit longer.

* * *

Harry slammed the door to his room and tried to calm himself down by breathing slowly and deeply. He leaned against the door and closed his eyes, trying to drown out the constant replay of the previous events in his mind, but nothing worked.

"Everything alright, Harry?" Neville's voice interrupted his thoughts, and Harry's eyes flew open.

"No," he said honestly, the calm tone of his voice surprising him. "Everything is not alright."

Neville was sitting on his bed, reading one of his text books. He stared at Harry for a moment. "Anything you want to talk about?" he finally asked.

"No," Harry said simply, willing his legs to work so they would take him to his bed.

Neville looked worried but didn't say another word. When Harry finally got to his bed, he pulled the curtains and threw himself into his pillow. He spent the next hour staring at the maroon fabric that surrounded him and trying to figure out ways to undo what he had done.

* * *

Thursday morning came around much quicker than Hermione was planning for. She had fallen asleep around eleven the night before, and she still had about an hour of homework left to do. She rolled out of bed around six o'clock that morning and hurriedly finished up the final assignment so she could deliver it to Pansy after breakfast.

When she exited her room and walked around to the Slytherin Common Room, she saw Draco and his friends sitting around the warm fireplace, waiting for her arrival. Crabbe and Goyle jumped up excitedly, probably starving after a whole night of not eating, while Draco and Blaise slowly rose from their seats.

"There you are," Draco said, taking her hand the moment she was close enough that he could reach out for it. "We've been waiting for you for ten whole minutes."

"Ten horrible minutes!" Goyle groaned. He and Crabbe were already waiting for everyone at the door.

Draco pulled her to the door before she had a chance to object.

"I had a lot of homework," she said. "So I was finishing things up this morning."

"You know, Pans," Draco said as the five of them walked down the dungeon halls. "You seem a lot more studious lately. You'll have to make sure some of that brushes off on me soon. My motivation for school stuff is just killing me lately. Father is starting to get suspicious…"

Hermione had to stop herself from shuddering at the mention of Draco's father. He was positively the most evil man, save Voldemort, that she had ever come in contact with. "I'm sorry, Draco," she said, after she pushed the thought of his father out of her mind. "But you'll just have to find your motivation on your own." She let go of his hand and moved to the front of the group. Draco being so touchy-feely was starting to unnerve her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pansy hadn't slept a wink that night. She was too busy berating herself over her thoughts of Harry Potter. It was absolutely disgusting, really. She might as well have herself committed for going insane. It was that bad.

She crept out of bed extra early that morning and exited the Gryffindor Common Room before anyone could stop her. She decided she'd get breakfast early, without Harry and Ron by her side, and then sneak away to the library and work a little on her assignments before Hermione showed up at seven thirty.

Unluckily for Pansy, Ron must have had the same idea, because he was already sitting at the very end of the table when she arrived at the Great Hall.

"Hey," she said in a sleepy voice, plopping down in the seat next to him and throwing her backpack underneath the bench. "You're here early."

"So are you," Ron mumbled before taking a large gulp of orange juice. "What's up?"

Pansy piled toast and strips of bacon onto her plate. She figured after how this morning was going to go, she wouldn't have any appetite at all when it came to lunch. "Just sleepy," she said to Ron before biting off the end of a piece of bacon. "I couldn't sleep so I came here early. What about you?"

"Same," Ron replied. "It's going to be a long day."

"You're telling me," she mumbled through a mouthful of bacon. If she was going to get out of the Great Hall before Harry arrived, she would have to eat quickly.

* * *

Hermione had just arrived to their corner in the library, but, she noticed, Pansy was well settled there already. Pansy was sitting in the chair next to the window, and she had stacks of books and pieces of parchment spread out over the whole table. Hermione set her books down beside a chair and sat down quietly.

"Behind on some things?" she asked, watching as Pansy scribbled something onto a piece of parchment.

"I guess you could say that," Pansy replied, not bothering to look up. "I'm almost done here," she said after a moment. "Do you mind just waiting for a few minutes?"

"Oh, sure," Hermione agreed. "I have some things I could look over as well." She reached down into her bag and pulled out her Potions text book. Professor Snape had a bad habit of giving pop quizzes.

After a few moments, Pansy began packing up her things. She set a pile of her homework in front of Hermione and then stood up. Hermione looked up at her.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione wanted to know. "You seem a little… quiet."

"Nothing's wrong," Pansy said quickly as she brushed her hair behind her ear. "I've just had a lot of homework. I didn't have much time to sleep last night."

Hermione noticed the slight darkness beneath her eyes, but shrugged and picked up the stack of homework. She put it into her bag and then handed Pansy her own homework. "They have been giving out a lot of homework lately, haven't they?" she said. "I hope they let up on us a little before Christmas break."

"Yeah," Pansy agreed, her voice quiet. "Me, too."

"Hey," Hermione said as the two of them zipped their backpacks closed. "Have you found out what was going on with Harry and Ron? We haven't talked about that for awhile."

Pansy shook her head. "No, both of them are so stubborn. I haven't been able to get a word out of them. Ginny has even tried to help me. I haven't heard back on that, though."

"Oh," Hermione said, sighing softly. She was hoping for some sort of answer. After her late night walk with Harry last night, she was just dying to know what was going on. "Well, maybe one of them will give it up soon. How long could they keep a secret that's obviously bugging them so much? It'll be eating them up inside."

"Yeah," Pansy shrugged, and then lifted her backpack over her shoulders. "I guess. Well, see you in class."

Hermione stood and watched her walk away. Class didn't start for another twenty minutes.

* * *

Harry had skipped breakfast that morning. He had thought about his actions all night and decided it was best to just not discuss anything regarding the kiss because that would bring up reasons… like why he had done it, and he had no idea how he would squirm his way out of that one.

Instead of breakfast, he went hungry. He stayed in bed until he was sure Ron and his other roommates had left, and then spent the rest of the early morning pushing his problems out of his mind and studying for his classes that day. He was most nervous about getting his Transfiguration essay back. He had been so preoccupied lately, he had put it off till the last second and by then it was too late to really spend time on the essay. Well, that and the fact that Professor McGonagall was a really tough grader.

Just before class started, he shoved his books into his backpack, changed into his school clothes and then left the room, slamming the door behind him.

By the time he arrived in the Transfiguration classroom, Ron and Hermione were already sitting in their seats at the front of the room, and Professor McGonagall gave him a look that clearly meant he had just made it under the wire.

Perfect.

He slipped into his seat next to Ron and at the end of the isle and pulled his transfiguration text book out of his bag. Class went on as usual, and even though Hermione was only sitting one seat away from him, he didn't have to say one word to her.

Not yet, anyway.


	7. Chapter 7 Grades Are In

**Author's Note: Thanks again for the reviews! I only have 4 more chapters written and ready to go... I better start writing really quick here... lol. Please review!!! **

* * *

**  
Time for a Change   
Chapter Seven   
By: Lori Finnegan   
2006**Hermione waited patiently as Professor McGonagall handed the class their graded Transfiguration essays. She wasn't really worried about her grade, but she really hoped that Draco and Blaise did well on their essays. She glanced over at Crabbe and Goyle who were shaking in their shoes besides Draco. It was hopeless for them. 

When Professor McGonagall walked by them, she handed out their essays, one by one. Draco snatched his away from her and flattened it out on his desk to reveal a bright red A.

"An A!" he exclaimed in a whisper, holding it up so that Hermione could see it.

"That's great, Draco!" she whispered back, just before she looked at her own grade.

A B minus?

Oh no! She didn't think about the fact that she would be looking at Pansy's grade and not her own! What a careless thing to overlook! But it was too late. Draco and Blaise had already seen her mark.

"A B minus?" Draco said as he and Blaise leaned over either of her shoulders. "How did we get A's and you get a B minus?"

"I don't know," Hermione said, sounding panicked. "I guess I just didn't have a lot of time to work on it."

"But it only took you a second to look at mine and make changes," Blaise pointed out. "When I asked you to help me, you said that you were almost done with your homework."

"I was…" Hermione was flustered. She didn't know how to dig herself out of this one. "I just… maybe I should have spent more time on my own. I thought it was okay, really."

Blaise put his arm around her shoulders and gave them a squeeze. "It's okay, Pansy," he said. "A B minus really isn't that bad. And Draco and I won't bug you for the next essay so you can finish yours at your own pace."

"Th-thanks," she stammered, shocked at Blaise's obvious kindness.

But when Blaise released her shoulders, and she looked over at Draco, he was staring to the front of the classroom with a very thoughtful, yet determined look on his face.

She poked him in the arm. "You okay?" she wanted to know.

"Yeah," he said. "I just feel bad that I took up all of your time on my essay when you should have been working on your own."

"Don't worry about it, Draco," she said. "We'll both just start earlier next time, okay?"

He gave one nod, but didn't look at her.

* * *

As he walked out of class, with each of his best friends on either side of him in the hallway, Ron couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. Everyone was so… quiet.

"So are you guys ready for Herbology?" he asked, hoping to start up some sort of conversation.

Hermione only shrugged, Harry said, "Whatever," and then it was back to being silent once more as they walked through the halls.

"Hey," Ron said, once again trying to end the silence. "That essay was rough, wasn't it, Harry?" While he had gotten a C plus, Harry hadn't done much better at a B. Hermione, on the other hand, had of course gotten an A plus.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, but Ron wasn't even sure if Harry had been listening. "Rough."

"Didn't you think it was weird when McGonagall turned the room into a circus tent?"

"What?" both Harry and Hermione asked, snapping out of their daze. "That didn't happen!" Hermione insisted.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Honestly," he said. "I had to say something to get your attention. It's like you're both zombies or something!"

"Don't mention zombies," Hermione mumbled. "We're studying them in Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon."

"Sorry," Ron apologized. "But you gotta admit that you were both a little out of it."

"Whatever," Harry muttered what seemed to be his most popular phrase these days. "I'll see you guys in Herbology. There's something I have to take care of."

Ron and Hermione watched as he sped up, took a quick turn and then disappeared around the corner.

"What was that all about," Ron said quietly to Hermione. "You'd think he didn't want to talk to us or something."

Ron had been expecting Hermione to either give him some insight into what was going on with Harry, or wonder out loud with him, but instead, she just kept walking, just as silent as she had been before.

"Is there something going on?" he asked cautiously. All of the secrets between the three of them were enough to give him an immediate headache. "You and Harry are acting… weird."

"Nothing is going on," Hermione told him right away. "I don't know what Harry's problem is, but I'm just tired. Like I told you at breakfast, I was just up late last night studying. I'm sorry if I haven't been very talkative today."

"Oh," Ron said. "Well, even so… Harry is acting a bit odd. I wonder what his problem is."

Hermione shrugged, and the two of them continued on their way to Herbology.

* * *

Draco sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall during lunch period surrounded by all of his closest friends. He had just received a high grade in Transfiguration and was also doing well in all of his other classes. He should have been happy… but something was off. He wasn't quite sure what it was, though.

He sat between Pansy and Blaise eating a dish of pasta while Pansy and Blaise discussed the new concept that Professor McGonagall had introduced them to at their last lesson. He was still a little curious how Pansy seemed to be so on top of the subject, yet get such a mediocre grade on her last essay. It didn't really add up.

But then again, everyone has off days, right?

A letter fell right in his lap, and he turned it over, immediately recognizing his father's fancy handwriting on the outside of the envelope. Lucius Malfoy always wrote in green ink. He carefully tore it open and began to unfold it.

"Do you mind?" he said to his friends as they all leaned over to see what the letter said. They leaned back into their seats with one look into his narrowed eyes. "Thank you."

With no one reading over his shoulder, Draco finished unfolding the letter and read the letter to himself.

_'Dear Draco,_

_'I hope all is going well at school. I haven't heard from you in quite a long time. Regardless, your mother insisted that it is I who should be writing to you. It was just a coincidence that I also have some news to deliver to you as well. Your mother and I will be going on a holiday over the Christmas break, so you will either have to stay at school, or go stay with your Aunt and Uncle. I know how you despise staying in strange places, so I will figure you will choose to stay with your friends at school. Please write me back if this is not your decision._

_'Please remember where you come from when you socialize with Hogwarts students and be aware that not all of them come from the highest of backgrounds. It would simply devastate your mother and me if you were to get involved in the wrong sort of crowd. I know that you have been doing so well in school and have made the best of friends that Hogwarts can offer, but all children, even the brightest of them, must be reminded from time to time that life is not all fun and games. Please keep this and mind and continue to make your mother and me proud._

_'Have a Happy Christmas, Draco.  
Love, Your Father.'_

Draco folded the letter back up, shoved it into the envelope and then stuck it into his backpack. It wasn't as though he didn't expect such a letter from his father, it was just that this would be the first Christmas he would be spending away from Malfoy Manor.

"What did it say, Draco?" Blaise was the first one to ask. "Is your father sending the Quidditch team new brooms again this year?"

"No, nothing like that," Draco shook his head. "He just said that he and Mother and are going out of town for Christmas, and I have to stay here instead of going home."

"Oh, man, that's a bummer," Blaise said, and Crabbe and Goyle echoed his sentiment. "I had to stay here one year… it was practically deserted. There are only a few students who don't make it home over Christmas time."

"Yeah," Draco said, looking down at his plate. "Whatever, though. It doesn't really bother me. I'll just get ahead on my studies and then laugh when all of you are working so hard." He looked up to smile at them, but no one was smiling back. "You'll see," he added.

On the other side of the room, the end of the Gryffindor table was almost completely silent during lunch. Pansy was looking over at Draco and Hermione and silently wished that she could go backwards in time. Life was so much less complicated as a Slytherin.

Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnigan suddenly started to have a rather loud conversation about what was better, toads or spiders, and Dean Thomas tried to get them to quiet down as Professor Snape gave a nasty glare towards their table.

She was about to excuse herself and get up from the table, when she felt a poke at her arm. She turned to see Harry looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"Can we talk?" he said quietly.

"Here?" she asked, leaning a little closer so he could hear her. "I'm not sure this is such a great time for a chat."

"Probably not," Harry agreed. "Meet me in the Charms classroom in fifteen minutes, okay?"

Pansy nodded reluctantly. She didn't want to meet Harry in a vacant classroom, but she was Hermione, and Hermione would meet Harry Potter anywhere, wouldn't she? So when Harry said he had to go finish his Potions assignment, Pansy said goodbye to him like everyone else sitting around them and then continued to eat her lunch… which wasn't at all appetizing when she thought about the conversation that was to come.

It took Pansy a good five minutes more than she had expected to get away from Ron. Harry had already used the studying excuse, so it was a little harder to think up an additional excuse to use to get up from the table.

Luckily, she was a Slytherin, and this sort of thing came natural to her.

"I promised a friend that I'd give her some last minute pointers on the latest Potions chapter," she said, pushing her plate of uneaten food slightly towards the center of the table. "See you all in class."

It seemed like something Hermione would say, anyway. She was always offering to help others out, no matter how pathetic they were. Pansy gave a huge sigh as she finally left the Great Hall and emerged out into the hallway.

Unfortunately, it was only a short distance over to the charms classroom, and by the time she stood in front of the closed door, the butterflies in her stomach were threatening to come back up. She leaned back against the cool stone wall and took several deep breaths until she thought her feet would carry her once again. In a brave move, she pushed herself away from the wall and entered the room.

Harry stood by the window, his hands in his pockets and the November sun shining down on his messy black hair. He turned to look at her when he heard the door open.

Pansy felt like she had to sit down.

"Are you okay?" was the first thing he said as he stepped closer to where she stood. "You look a little pale."

She clutched onto a desk nearby, and leaned against the edge of it. "I just haven't had that much to eat today," she said, which was actually true. "I guess I'm just a little dizzy."

Harry took her arm and helped her sit down on top of the desk before sitting down beside her. "Maybe you should go back to your dormitory, if you don't feel well." he suggested. I'll tell Snape that you're ill."

She put up her hand, pushing him away. "No, I'm fine really," she assured him. "I just needed to sit down."

"Okay," he said, putting his hands at his sides. "Just let me know if you're going to… like faint or something, so I can make sure that you don't crack your skull open."

Pansy realized that he was trying to lighten the mood, but she couldn't even give him a chuckle. "I'm sorry, Harry," was all she could get out at that second. And boy, was she ever sorry. She was in the worst possible situation ever! Not only did she have feelings for Harry Potter, but he was head over heels for Hermione! This couldn't possibly work out for her!

Harry leaned down so that his head was level to hers. "What are you sorry about? Everything is all my fault, you know." When she didn't say anything, he went on, "This morning just killed me, so I had to talk to you about it. I want you to be my friend, Hermione, and what happened last night… that was way out of line. I don't know what I was thinking."

Pansy nodded. But she knew what he was thinking. He was so transparent that one might mistake him for a ghost. The only reason Harry had said those words was so that things might have a chance of going back to normal. That was just the kind of guy he was… he didn't want to ruin the friendship that he had with Hermione.

And damn it, that made her want to kiss him more!

But she swallowed her feelings and turned to look at him, hoping that the tears would stay in her eyes and not seep onto her warm cheeks. "It's okay, Harry," she said. "Let's just forget that it happened, and we can move on." It was what Hermione would say, after all.

Part of him looked broken, but the other part of him gave her a crooked smile as he jumped up from the desk. "Great," he said. "Now, are you sure you're feeling okay? I mean, if you're really sick, Snape can't be mad if you skip his class."

"I'm fine," Pansy insisted. "If you could just help me down…" She was afraid she might fall over once her feet hit the ground.

Harry took her hand as she hopped off of the desk, and they stood there at the front of the Charms classroom looking at each other for a moment longer than was necessary.

"Come on," he said, pulling her towards the door. "I don't want to be late again. Snape gives detention if you're late two days in a row."

* * *

During Potions, Draco stared at the letter sticking out of his bag. He had been looking forward to the Christmas holiday since the second week of school that year. He enjoyed spending time with his friends at school, of course, but there was nothing like Christmas time at Malfoy Manor. Everything was so extravagant at home, and sometimes, when he wasn't having the best of days, he would think of lying in his huge bed in his huge bedroom and listening to the music from Father's Christmas party that was held every year in the ball room. Last year Father had told him that he would be able to attend the party when he was sixteen.

But now that he was sixteen, there would be no Malfoy Christmas party. It seemed a little unfair to Draco. And part of him wondered if his father had planned it all just in spite of him.

"Mr. Malfoy, did you hear the question?"

Draco shook himself out of his thoughts and looked up at Professor Snape. "No, Professor," he said. "I'm sorry, could you please repeat the question?"

* * *

Harry followed his Quidditch team mates onto the field and launched into the air on his broom. He looked down at the grass and the empty stands, watching as everything became smaller and smaller. Part of him felt as though he were soaring high but the rest of him felt like he was flying head on towards the depths of Azkaban.

While everything was now okay with Hermione despite his horrible move the night before, he still was disappointed. Inside, he had been hoping that maybe she would confess her feelings to him when he apologized, and then lunge at him with a passionate kiss.

So much for hopes and dreams. He would settle for her friendship, and he would cherish every moment.

* * *

Ron and Hermione sat on the bench besides the changing rooms watching the Gryffindor team soar around above them, practicing for their first big match against Slytherin that Saturday afternoon.

Ron wasn't going to go, not at first anyway, but when he saw Harry and Hermione laughing together just like it was before the whole mess had started, his spirits had lifted dramatically. Perhaps things would be back to normal soon, if they weren't already.

"You cold?" he asked, noticing that she was rubbing her hands together.

"I'm okay," she assured him, and they both went back to watching the team.

After a moment of zoning out, Ron took a deep breath and glanced back at her. "So what happened between you and Harry?" he wanted to know. "One second you weren't saying a word to each other and doing everything possible to avoid each other to going back to normal again. I mean… what happened?"

Hermione, her cheeks already pink from the chilly air, blushed an even deeper red as Ron rambled on about her and Harry. "It's really no big deal, Ron. And it's over, so you don't even have to worry about it ever again."

Ron felt a little jilted and a bit left behind as well. But then again, he remembered the incident just a few days ago where it was Hermione trying to find out a secret that he was hiding. Now the tables were turned.

So he decided to set it aside for now. She was right. If it really wasn't over, he would find out later on, right?

But what if there would be something he could do to help them? And prevent whatever this disturbance was perhaps he could prevent it from happening in the future.

If she would just tell him!

He folded arms over his chest and sank down in the bench, pouting. Well, this just sucked. He was being cast out by his best of friends.

She poked him in the arm with her elbow. "Quit pouting," she muttered. "You just have to trust me, okay, Ron?"

"Yeah," he muttered, looking away from her. "Whatever."

It was disturbing when he was keeping Harry's secret, but being the friend left out was even worse. Perhaps three really was a crowd.

* * *

After several long minutes sitting next to a dreadfully silent Ron, Pansy said she was getting a little too cold to be sitting on a metal bench, and left him to himself to continue his brooding.

She stomped back up to the castle and opened the door to the side hallway that she knew led straight into the Slytherin side of the dungeons. She needed some alone time, and this time she knew that she could hide in hers and Draco's secret place, because she knew exactly where Hermione was. She had seen her and Draco at the other end of the field, waiting for the Gryffindor team to finish their practice so that the Slytherin team could take the field.

After looking both ways to make sure that no one was lurking in the hall, she quickly made her way to the room and slipped inside.

It was Thursday… only five days after they had made the potion… and everything since then had changed in Pansy's world. She felt a little culture shocked as she curled up on the couch, drawing her knees to her chin and wrapping her arms around her legs. How in the hell would she get through another nine days until the potion was ready, and she could turn back into Pansy Parkinson for good? What kind of other strange occurrences would happen in the meantime?

She spent several minutes sniffing, trying to hold in her tears, and then got up from the couch and sat on the floor right in front of the place where Hermione had last hidden the potion out of sight. She reached underneath and slid it out carefully.

Pansy looked down at its contents. She wasn't actually sure what it was supposed to look like, but the important thing was, it was still there and still unchanged… which mean everything was going just about as well as it could go… potion wise.

Her life, on the other hand, didn't feel as together as the big bowl of purple mush.

* * *

Hermione stood next to Draco as he tossed his broom back and forth from his left to his right hand and then back again. "This season is going to be completely wicked," he said, the broom resting back into his right hand. "You'll see." He leaned in towards Hermione. "We're going to completely bury Potter and those other Gryffindors."

Hermione leaned against the stands, nodding for his benefit. "Mm hmm," she mumbled. "I guess we'll find out on Saturday, huh?"

"Yeah," he agreed as he took a place besides her, their arms pressing together.

Hermione moved away from him slightly. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for practice?" she asked.

Draco leaned back against her arm. "Why, Pans…" he grinned. "You act like you're trying to get rid of me."

She resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. He couldn't have been more right. His stupid condescending attitude was giving her a complete migraine. "That's not it," she assured him just as several other players started to make their way onto the field. Her saving grace! "It's just that your team is already getting started," she pointed.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, launching himself away from the wall and running towards the field. "Watch me out there, Pans! I'll make you proud!"

This time Hermione really did roll her eyes after he turned his head and hopped onto his broom. She caught a glimpse of Ron sitting by himself on a cold bench at the other side of the field and stared at him.

She wished she could be sitting beside him instead of standing alone next to the Slytherin stands.

* * *

Pansy returned back to the dormitories after awhile, and was hoping she was just in time to miss the Quidditch crowd making their way back from the field. And the Common Room was practically deserted.

Except for Ron, who was sitting on the couch in front of the blazing fireplace, directly in the middle with his head in his hands. When she entered, he sat up straight and looked at her.

Pansy tried not to show her disappointment as she approached him. "Hey."

"Hey," he replied, and then looked back at the fire as if she had never even walked up to him.

For some reason, this annoyed Pansy deeply. She sat down beside him and elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Look here, Ron," she said, when he yelped and covered his injury with his hand. "You may think you're all hurt and sensitive, but you know what? The world doesn't revolve around you."

Ron leaned away from her, looking at her as if she had just sworn allegiance to the Dark Lord. "Are you completely mad?" he demanded after the initial shock had worn off.

Pansy folded her arms over her chest and glared at him impatiently. "You are acting like a spoiled child, Ron! Grow up and realize that not everyone is specifically thinking of you in their actions!"

Ron stood up, his face turning beet red at an amazingly rapid rate. "And did it ever occur to you, Hermione, that maybe that's not what I was worried about? Did you ever think that maybe I was worried about the exact opposite?"

She stared at him, trying to put his words together.

"I'm not worried about you and Harry purposely hurting me, I'm not that much of a dolt, and I know you wouldn't do that to me." He took a deep breath. "I'm worried that you'll forget about me altogether, is all."

Pansy stared at him, suddenly realizing that this was not a conversation that she should be having with Ron. This is something that should be happening with Ron, Harry and Hermione as they grew older and matured… and she was definitely not Hermione. She felt as though she were cheating them out of something important.

And she looked away from his face.

"What?" he said, taking a step closer to her. "What is it?"

Damn it, maybe he knew. Maybe he knew she was a fake.

"Hermione…" he said, sitting back down besides her and trying to look into her face. "Is something really wrong?"

She shook her head, but a tear that had escaped betrayed her.

"You know…" he said. "That no matter what it is… you can talk to me. Right?"

She tried to nod, but the floodgates were already open. She put her hands over her face in a pathetic attempt to try and hide her tears.

"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed. "What's wrong?!"

"It's nothing," she managed to blubber out, but she knew it was hopeless. She was going to have to come up with some sort of silly lie to cover for herself. He would never believe that everything was okay after such a display of tears, and she very well couldn't tell him that the reason she was so upset was because she had invaded Hermione's privacy and felt like she was overstepping every line that had ever been drawn.

By the time she had uncovered her eyes, Ron had placed his hand on his shoulder and was looking at her awkwardly. "I guess I'm just a little stressed out over things," she reworded. "If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell Harry? Not ever?"

Ron's eyes widened, and he gulped. "Um… it's hard for me to promise something like that before I know what it is…" he said hesitantly and honestly. "I mean… what's it about?"

"Swear you won't tell, first," she said, taking his hand away from her shoulder and squeezing it tightly. "Ron, you have to."

"Okay," he squeaked. "I guess you can tell me… And I promise I won't tell Harry, okay?"

"Okay," Pansy gave a small sigh of relief and then took another deep breath. "I found out something about Harry," she said, letting it out.

Ron's eyes widened and his face turned pale. "What… about him?" he stammered.

"Let's just say… I know how he feels about me," she said quietly as she leaned in a little closer. "But you can't say a word… because he didn't actually say anything about it."

"He didn't!?"

"No!" she hissed back at him. "It was just obvious, okay? So that's why it was awkward for a little bit. But don't worry, because we talked it out and agreed to make sure that everything went back to normal."

Ron was still blinking at her, probably still shocked. Pansy doubted that he and Hermione had ever had this sort of conversation before.

"So, now you know," she made clear. "And now everything can go back to normal."

But Ron still looked a little uncomfortable about the whole thing. "Thank you for telling me," he said, "And I won't tell Harry about this conversation… but are you sure you're okay?"

Pansy dabbed at her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. "I'm fine," she said. "Like I said before, the whole thing has kind of stressed me out." She looked up at his face. "But I'm glad you know now. We can go back to normal too, then, right?"

He nodded and then patted her on the shoulder with an awkward smile. "Right."

* * *

Draco entered the Slytherin Common Room after Quidditch practice and headed straight for his room… but something caught his eye. Sitting in a nook under the staircase, with piles of books and paper laid out in front of her, was Pansy, and she was so absorbed into her reading, that she didn't even notice him walk past her.

He stopped and stared at her for a moment. It was just that… he had never seen that look on her face before. He tried to remember why it seemed so familiar, but was at a loss. He wondered if Pansy was having trouble with her grades, and had taken on some extra credit. She seemed to have a lot more homework than normal lately.

"Hi, Pans," he said, propping some of his Quidditch gear up against the stone wall.

She jumped, her quill flying out of her hand and landing on the floor, ink sprinkling on its way down. "Draco!" she exclaimed as she bent over to pick it up. "I thought practice would last longer."

"Why," he said, leaning against a pillar, "were you trying to avoid me?"

"No!" She set the quill back on top of the table and then grabbed a tissue to clean the ink up. "I just wanted a little peace and quiet," she explained. "As you can see, I have quite a bit of homework to catch up on."

"I can see." He watched as she wiped up the ink, and then rose back up to the table. "You know, Pans… things have changed."

She sat down and looked at him, straight on. "Excuse me?"

"I'm a little concerned about you," he went on. "Either something is wrong, or… you've just changed."

"Draco, how have I changed?! What's wrong with me doing homework? Doesn't everyone do homework?"

He stared at her, folding his arms over his chest. "Yes, most people do homework, and yes, you normally do as well. However, the level of homework that you're currently doing is unnatural. You're starting to remind me of Granger, for Merlin's sake, Pansy."

Pansy dropped her quill again, and more ink went splattering to the floor. "I am nothing like that girl!" she exclaimed. "And I'm offended that you would even accuse me of it!" She left her quill on the floor and scooped up her homework in her arms.

Draco watched as she shoved past him and ran off to her dormitory. "Well, geez," he said. "I had no idea she was so sensitive."


	8. Chapter 8 So, It's True!

**Author's Note: Whew, I'm catching up to myself! I hope to finish chapter 13 soon, guys... hang tight! I hope everyone likes this chapter and as always, please read and review!!! 3**

* * *

**Time for a Change  
Chapter Eight  
By: Lori Finnegan  
2006**

Hermione put her books down on her desk and then went back to her door, slamming it shut and locking it securely. Tears streamed down her warm cheeks as she kicked the bottom of the door one more time.

Draco was without a doubt the most awful boy she had ever met. How is it that he was even mean to his own friends?

She wiped at her eyes and then turned around. And why was she even crying in the first place? As if she cared what Draco thought about her. And why would his comparison of her to herself upset her so much?

Perhaps she was close to being uncovered… and it scared her.

She was just about to attempt to go back to her homework when there was a knock on her door. She walked back to the door and glared at the wood.

"Go away, Draco," she said, keeping her voice steady.

"C'mon, Pans," she heard him say. "I didn't mean those things I said… and if something's bothering you, shouldn't I be the first to know so that I can help you? You know that I'm the best when it comes to… well, everything."

Hermione rolled her eyes. He couldn't even apologize without complimenting himself. "Just go away," she said again.

"Let me in, Pans," he begged, and she put her forehead against the door.

What if she didn't let him in? Would he consider that another reason why she was less like Pansy? And what if she did? Then would he keep saying that she wasn't like Pansy anymore?

"Okay, fine," she agreed, opening the door and stepping aside so he could enter. "This better be good"  
But he didn't come in entirely. Instead, he grabbed her by the waist and gathered her up in his arms. Hermione almost gasped.

"You know it's hard for me to say I'm sorry," he mumbled into her hair. "So you can understand why I'm not saying it now."

"Gee, that makes me feel loads better. Thanks, Draco." But in all honesty, it did. And it didn't hurt to feel him so close either. "You know just how to treat your friends."

He pulled away and looked at her in shock. "I hope you're not being sarcastic," he said. "I treat my friends like royalty!"

Hermione tried not to laugh in his face. The correct statement would be that Draco expects his friends to treat him like royalty. But she couldn't say that out loud. Then again, perhaps this was the sort of banter that he and Pansy usually carried on with. "Yeah," she said. "Everything I say is completely honest."

"Whoa," he said as he let go of her waist. "Now that was sarcasm. There's no way that you're completely honest. You were sorted into Slytherin, after all." He gave her a sly grin. "Now this is more like the Pansy I know…"

For a second there, she thought he was going to add, 'and love,' but instead, he kicked the door closed and walked swiftly across the room where he slammed all of her books shut and stuffed her papers into her desk drawer.

"There," he said, pretending to wipe the dust from his palms. "Mission accomplished."

"Excuse me?" she demanded. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"There will be no homework tonight," he announced. "Because tonight is Draco and Pansy's glorious night of fun. And homework is definitely not included in the fun category."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Our… glorious night of fun? Are you serious?"

* * *

Harry had made a stop at the Great Hall with several of the other Gryffindor players to grab a bite to eat after several hours of hard practice, and then they all headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room to wind down before settling down for the night.

Harry was tired, and said goodnight early, leaving the other players still laughing and carrying on by the fireplace. He stepped heavily up the stairs that led to the boys' dormitories and then walked slowly down the hallway. He didn't know where Ron was, but he was hoping that they could put everything behind them and get on with their lives.

He opened the door and entered, propping his Quidditch gear up against the wall by his bed. Ron was working on his homework on his bed, and he had looked up when Harry entered.

"Hello, Harry," he said before looking back down at his books. "How was practice?"

"It was fine," Harry replied. "I saw you standing on the ground for a bit of it. I hope it wasn't too cold out there."

"No, not bad at all," Ron said. "I just needed to get caught up on homework is all. I've been a little preoccupied lately to focus on it."

"Yeah," Harry nodded. He couldn't help but feel the same way about his own homework. "I should really work on mine tonight as well."

It was quiet for a while as Harry put his things away and then took his books out of his backpack. He sat down at his desk and flipped open to the section of his Defense Against the Dark Arts text that was about zombies.

"Harry," Ron said, interrupting their silence. "How are things with Hermione? Everything going to be okay?"

Harry, who had turned to look at him when he spoke, turned back around and looked down at his book instead. "Things are fine," he said. "So, don't worry about it anymore."

He froze, waiting for Ron to say something.

"Okay," Ron said after a pause. "Just let me know if I can do anything to help, okay?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, sure. Thanks, Ron."

* * *

"This is absolutely crazy, Draco," Hermione said as the two of them ducked underneath some shrubs around the lake and emerged on the other side, facing the cold, dark lake. He had dragged her to her room, dove into his closet and tossed some black robes out at her, telling her to put them on. Five minutes later, they were warmly dressed and giggling as they exited the Slytherin Common Room and crept down the hallways towards the exit.

"You think this is crazy?" he said, flashing her a white smile. "Wait till you see what's to come." He grabbed her hand and pulled her along side the bushes.

Hermione followed him along the shrubs until they were on the exact opposite side of the lake. He pulled her up a small grassy hill and let go of her hand to reach for his wand.

"Watch this," Draco said as he glanced at her and then pointed his wand into the air directly above the lake. "Puteulanus mico," he said in a loud, booming voice. The second his voice began to echo over the water, a blue light burst from his wand and ascended over up and above the lake. It exploded into blue and white fireworks which reflected against the clear water, making it seem like the whole scene was lit in blue wonder.

Hermione stared, her mouth slightly open in amazement. She didn't know where Draco had learned such a beautiful spell. "Wow," she whispered, finding herself reaching for his hand once again. His warm fingers wrapped around hers, and the two of them stood there, looking up at the sky.

* * *

Ginny Weasley sat alone in the library working on a last minute project that was due tomorrow morning. But she couldn't concentrate. It had been bothering for several days that she couldn't figure out what was going on with her brother and his friends. Not that it was really any of her business to begin with, but when Hermione had come to her about it, she felt a sort of responsibility to straighten things out. Besides, every time she looked at her brother, she felt a little sorry for him. Poor dolt, he took things so seriously.

She looked up from her books when someone plopped more books on the table in front of her. "Neville," she said, when her brother's friend sat down beside her.

"Hi, Ginny," Neville said. "I saw you here a little bit ago, and didn't want to disturb you… but I really wanted to ask you a question. I hope I'm not disturbing you too much."

"Not at all," Ginny told him. She closed her book and looked up at his face. "Is something the matter?"

Neville seemed a bit nervous. He folded his hands on his lap and looked down at them. "Something strange is going on…" he said quietly. "And I didn't know who to turn to. Ron won't listen to me, and Harry seems a little… preoccupied with something else."

Ginny nodded. She had noticed the exact same things. "I don't know what's going on with the two of them," she said when Neville looked up at her for a response. "But they sure are acting strange."

Neville cleared his throat softly. "To be honest, Ginny, I'm not sure it's Harry and Ron who are acting strange…"

Ginny's eyes widened. "Then how are they acting?" she wanted to know.

"I don't think they're acting," Neville told her. "I think they're reacting. I think what's got them seeming strange is Hermione."

She blinked at him. "What? What's wrong with Hermione? She seemed perfectly normal to me the last time I talked with her."

"She's just… changed, that's all I can gather right now. Something's different about her. She looks the same, and seems the same… but sometimes when she's talking I get the feeling that… she's not all there. Not how she used to be, anyway."

Ginny frowned. She hadn't really thought about it before, but now that Neville had brought it up, she could see what he meant. "I wonder what's going on…" she mused. "Maybe I should have a talk with her… girl to girl."

Neville nodded. "I think that's a good idea," he agreed. "She would listen to you and maybe even confide in you."

Ginny gathered up her books and slipped them into her backpack. "I'm going to turn in," she announced. "But I'll ask her about it tomorrow, okay?"

Neville nodded at her again. "Okay," he said. "Just try not to… you know, upset her."

"I won't," Ginny promised as she gave him a wave and then walked away from the table. She was used to strange events occurring around Hogwarts… but she never would have imagined something could rattle one of their own.

* * *

Draco and Hermione were on their backs on top of the grassy hill staring up at a clear sky. They were laughing and talking about school, friends, and anything that entered their minds… until the topic of the Christmas Holiday came up, and Draco immediately turned somber.

"This is your first Christmas away from home," Hermione said quietly, looking up at the black sky.

Draco didn't say anything at first, and it was quiet for a moment as they both listened to the sound of the wind blowing through the trees. "It'll be weird," he admitted, finally. "I've never spent Christmas at the castle. I'm afraid it's going to be… really quiet and…" he trailed off.

"It really isn't so bad as long as you have some friends with you," Hermione said, trying to cheer him up. She thought of the year that she had stayed along with Harry and Ron. Then again, if they hadn't been there, it would have been very lonely.

Draco turned to look at her. "You've never stayed here over Christmas," he said. "How would you know what it's like?"

"Um…" she muttered as she tried to think of some sort of excuse quickly. "It's just what I heard," she settled on. "There are always some kids who have to stay."

"Oh," he said, looking back up at the sky, seemingly satisfied. "I just wish I wasn't one of them."

"I wish I could stay with you…" Hermione mumbled. "But as far as I know, my parents want me home this year."

Draco looked at her again. "Parents… I thought you said you only had a mom."

"Er…" Hermione stammered. Why hadn't Pansy told her these things? They should have gone over their backgrounds in a little more detail just for these sorts of situations. "I'm sorry, I meant just my mom. I guess I was… thinking about your parents, and I just said the word."

This time, Draco didn't say anything. He just continued to stare at her. "You seem a little of out of it," he said after a moment of staring at her face in silence.

At first, Hermione didn't know what to say. She looked up at the sky, eyes wide open. "I guess I'm a little tired," she said. "I've been doing too much homework, maybe."

She could see Draco nod at her out of the corner of her eye. "Honestly, you've been overdoing it lately. You've been doing double the homework you usually do… and your Transfiguration grade… didn't really reflect it."

"A lot has been going on lately," she tried to explain, which was the truth, after all. Becoming a whole new person was just about enough to distract anyone. "I'm not really on the top of my game."

"It's okay," he said, squeezing her hand. "It happens to the best of us. Even me, though it's extremely rare. It's only happened once so far, if I recall correctly."

She reached over and punched him in the arm. "Yeah, just once, I'm sure," she giggled.

"I swear," he said with a straight face.

Hermione let her laugh fade out and went back to staring up at the sparkling stars. She was going to have to be more careful when she talked to Draco in the future. He definitely had a feeling that something was going on, but she didn't think he was even close to the truth. Because if he were close, he certainly wouldn't be holding her hand and smiling up at the stars.

* * *

Draco lay in his bed late that night. He and Pansy had come in just after one o'clock, and in five hours, he had to be up if he wanted breakfast that morning. Draco rolled over and pulled his blankets up to his chin.

He couldn't sleep. At this rate, he would be laying there for another hour before he could fall asleep, and then he'd never be able to drag himself up by six o'clock in time for breakfast.

He flopped over again. Screw breakfast. His brain was focused on Pansy. Something about her had definitely changed. She was warmer than before, and for some reason, he felt extremely attracted to her. Laying besides her on the grass, holding her hand within his own… he had wanted to take her in his arms and press his lips to hers…

But he didn't. He couldn't bring himself to make a move. She had been one of his best friends from before they had even attended Hogwarts, and he wasn't about to lose her over one simple… or rather complicated feeling.

He just couldn't stop thinking about her, and it was driving him absolutely insane. He wished he could just cast his stupid feelings aside and go on with life, but he just couldn't shake the fact that he wanted her.

Draco closed his eyes and tried to rid his mind of all thoughts. If he was going to function in a reasonable manner tomorrow, he was going to need to get at least a little sleep.

* * *

Ginny woke up early that morning and quickly dressed for the day. Her first class of the day was Care of Magical Creatures, so she grabbed her warmest robes and was careful not to wake her sleeping roommates as she headed out the door and on her way to breakfast.

She knew that Hermione had a habit of arriving to breakfast early, before Harry and Ron had a chance to get down there, and then met up with them towards the end of the breakfast period, so Ginny had hoped to catch her before the boys were there to get in her way.

She was lucky. Her suspicions had been right. Hermione sat alone at the end of the Gryffindor table, quietly eating some breakfast while staring into a book… only her eyes didn't seem to be reading the text.

"Something wrong, Hermione?" Ginny asked as she came up behind her.

Hermione jumped at the sound of her voice. "Oh, Ginny," she said, as if she were expecting it to be someone else. "What are you doing up so early?"

Ginny looked at her for a moment and sat down beside her. "Hermione, I'm usually up early with you," she said as she reached for a muffin. "Did you forget or something?"

"Oh," Hermione said again. "I'm just a little out of it today, don't mind me. I guess I'm just used to the guys wandering in about fifteen minutes before class starts and then shoving food into their faces so they won't be late." She gave a small laugh and then stuck her fork into a pile of scrambled eggs.

Ginny laughed a little for her benefit and then put some scrambled eggs on her own plate. "It's okay. I guess it's easy to overlook me sometimes. You know, with the bright red hair and all…" She looked towards Hermione for a reaction.

"I'm sorry, Ginny," Hermione said, turning to her with a sincere look on her face. "I didn't mean that I didn't notice you… it's just that… well, like I said, I'm a bit out of it today."

"You've seemed a little out of it for a while…" Ginny mumbled as she placed a bite of scrambled eggs into her mouth. "But it's okay," she added after she had swallowed. After all, she didn't want Hermione to think that she was being attacked. "Everyone has their days."

Hermione seemed to be staring at her. Ginny could only imagine what was going through her mind. "Yeah," Hermione finally agreed to her sentiment.

Ginny put down her fork. "You know, Hermione, if something is bothering you… you can always come and talk to me about it, okay? I know that Ron and Harry aren't always the best people to talk to when it comes to girl type things. And those ditzy roommates of yours probably don't help out that much either. Am I right?"

"Well, um…" Hermione stammered as she looked back down at her plate. "Thanks, Ginny… and you're right… Parvati and Lavender really aren't the best of listeners… that is, unless you're talking about boys."

Ginny looked over at her. "Is this about a boy, Hermione?"

"What's about a boy?" Hermione echoed. "I didn't say that something was bothering me. I said I was a little out of it today."

"But usually when people are out of it, it's for a reason… you know? I mean, something must be on your mind to make you feel that way."

Hermione was beginning to look a little annoyed. "Did you ever think that maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night? Or maybe I'm not feeling well?"

Ginny gave a small sigh. "But it's neither of those things. Right, Hermione?"

"What is this?" Hermione demanded. "Some sort of interrogation? Did I do anything to upset you, Ginny?"

"No," Ginny told her. "You haven't done anything to upset me… it's just that I've heard from several different people that you… well, that you haven't been acting like yourself lately, and to put it plainly, I was concerned. I didn't want to say it flat out because I didn't want you to think that I was purposely talking behind your back, but if something is wrong, I want to help you, Hermione. Is that so wrong?"

Hermione seemed to deflate in the seconds following Ginny's little confession. "No, it's not wrong," she said. "And it's true, I haven't really been myself. And I'm sorry if I caused any problems between anyone… but it's just not anything I can help."

Ginny put a hand on her friend's shoulder in comfort. "It's okay, Hermione," she said in a quiet tone. "I know you can't help your feelings. But I can't help mine either." She took her hand away from Hermione's shoulder. "The truth is… Neville came to me a little upset about everything. He says that he thinks the reason Harry and Ron are acting so strange is because something is off about you. And as much of a pain my brother is, I don't like to see him upset about stuff. You can understand that, can't you?"

Hermione nodded. "I wish I could tell you, Ginny… I know that's what you're trying to do here, but I just can't. This isn't something I can tell anyone. And no matter how many times you try and make me feel guilty over it, it doesn't change the fact that I just can't say it."

Ginny leaned back a little ways from Hermione and thought for a moment. What was it that Hermione just couldn't tell her? Or anyone, for that matter? She didn't have a clue what this huge secret could be. But she was dying to find out, that was for sure.

"I'm sorry that you feel you have to keep such a secret," she said, still working on the guilt trip. "I can't imagine any secret that you couldn't tell your best friends. But if you ever change your mind," she looked away from Hermione and down at her plate of food. "Then I want you to know that you can always talk to me."

"…Thanks, Ginny," Hermione said slowly.

The two of them sat there for a few moments longer while Ginny picked at her food and Hermione continued to stare out across the Great Hall. It wasn't long before she stood up and put her stuff into her backpack. "I've got a little more studying to do," she told Ginny. "I'll see you later on, okay?"

"Yeah," Ginny replied, catching her eyes once more. "See you later."

* * *

Once Pansy was outside of the Great Hall, she leaned against the stone hallway and tried to stop herself from hyperventilating. Ginny had sounded really suspicious, and she felt as though the act would be up if she made anymore false moves. Gryffindors turned out to be a lot smarter than she had previously given them credit for.

She was just about to continue on her way to the library to wait for Hermione, but to her surprise, Hermione had just walked around the corner, and the two girls locked eyes.

Hermione stopped in front of Pansy and pretended to be looking through the things in her backpack. "Are you okay?" she said softly. "You look a little rattled."

"I should be rattled," Pansy hissed back. "Your friends are completely relentless. They won't leave me alone for a second, and now I think they're starting to get suspicious about me!"

Hermione looked at her. "Suspicious? You don't mean that they've figured you out…?"

"No," Pansy replied. "They haven't figured it out yet… they just know that something is off. And I don't think it'll be long before they start demanding answers."

"I'm going to grab something to eat, and I'll meet you in the library in ten minutes so we can talk about this some more."

Before Pansy could reply, Hermione had continued on down the hallway and disappeared through the large doors that led to the Great Hall. She took several deep breaths, attempting to calm herself down, and then made her way to the library.

* * *

Exactly ten minutes later, Hermione had entered the library and was quickly making her way towards the table that she and Pansy usually occupied each morning for the past week. Pansy was sitting in the seat by the window, waiting for her.

"Hey," Hermione said as she sat down. "One more week, and this'll all be over. Keep thinking about that."

"I know," Pansy agreed. "But do you have any idea how long this last week has felt to me?"

"About as long as it's felt for me?" Hermione offered. "Slytherins aren't exactly the easiest people to get along with."

Pansy folded her arms over her chest. "I'm not going to argue about who's had a rougher time this past week… but seriously, I'm about to snap. I don't know how I'm going to make it another week."

"They can't be that bad," Hermione said. "I know my friends have really good hearts… even if they don't always show them."

"It's not that," Pansy shook her head. "They all care a lot about you, that's obvious. It's just that I think they might care a little too much. They're always in my business. If I sniff, everyone has to ask me if I'm sick, or if I trip, they're all surrounding me, asking me if I'm okay, or if they can hold my books for me. It's ridiculous!"

Hermione stared at her with wide eyes. "I'm sorry if my friends are too nice for you…" she said, trying to be a little sarcastic. "But I can honestly see how this is a problem for this situation."

"Yeah," Pansy agreed. "It's a bit of a problem."

"Here's what we'll do," Hermione said, leaning over the table and closer to Pansy. "I'll look up some more information on our potion and see if there's any way we can possibly speed up the process. I know that in some potions, they brew faster in warmer environments. I hope this particular potion has that sort of quality."

"And now you're telling me this?" Pansy exclaimed. "We should have thought of this days ago!"

"I'm sorry," Hermione said, leaning back into her chair. "But I honestly just thought about it now. They don't tell you about it until you're in seventh year Potions, but I read ahead. It wasn't at the front of my mind last week."

"Okay, whatever. Let's just figure this out. If there's any possibility this could speed up the potion, then I'll raise hell to get it done."

"Great," Hermione said. "I'll research it, and we'll meet in the secret room tonight at nine o'clock."

"Deal," Pansy agreed. She pushed her homework across the table, and Hermione took out hers as well. "I'll see you in class."

* * *

Ron leaned against the wooden shelf. He took one deep breath before he realized that he had been holding it an undetermined amount of time. Once he had regained his composure, he stepped out from behind the bookshelf and looked at the empty table.

No wonder Hermione had seemed so strange this past week. As it turned out, she wasn't Hermione at all.


	9. Chapter 9 It's Your Turn

**Author's Note: Woo! Here's chapter 9 :) I'm so glad that many of you seemed to love chapter 8 with the big Ron-reveal! I hope you like chapter 9 just as much. I'm posting it a little early this week, but next week it'll go up on Sunday as usual. Thanks for reading everyone, and as always, please read and review!!! **

* * *

**Time for a Change   
Chapter Nine  
By: Lori Finnegan  
2006**

Hermione made her way to Transfiguration and saw that Draco was already sitting in his seat. Pansy came in behind her and went to sit next to Harry, as had been the case for the last week.

When she sat next to Draco and looked over at him to say hello, she noticed the tired look on his face. "Draco," she said, watching as he looked up at her. "Are you okay? You look… like you didn't sleep a wink last night."

"No, I'm fine, really," he insisted, holding up his hand. "Malfoys just need more sleep than most people… and after we got back from our night of fun…" he winked at her, "I just didn't have enough time to sleep. But don't worry," he added. "It was my decision to stay up late, and I'll pay the consequences."

"Okay," she said as he turned back to his book. "Well, I'm sorry I kept you up, if it makes any differences."

"No, don't apologize," Draco insisted. "It was my fault. And I'll be fine."

"Um… sure," Hermione agreed as she took Pansy's homework out of her bag and set it on the table. "Hey, did you get your homework done?"

"Yeah," he said, turning to grin at her and pushing it over in front of her. "I did it last night."

Hermione looked it over quickly. "Well, this is wrong," she said, pointing to his answer for the sixth question. "You can't use that spell to turn a rock into a loaf of bread. You're completely ignoring the wheat property of the bread."

"Ah…" Draco said, leaning over. "I see…"

"You just need to change the wording a little, see?" She took her pencil and erased several words, replacing them with others. "That way, your bread won't taste like a rock."

Draco seemed to be staring at the text, deep in thought. "Have you been… practicing at your handwriting?" he wanted to know. "Lately it seems to be much neater. That is… except for your homework."

Pansy's homework sat just above Draco's, and it was covered in Pansy's horrible scribbling handwriting. Hermione quickly put her book on top of it. "I guess I just got a little carried away with homework last night," she said, laughing nervously. "And yes, I have been trying to write neater. I'm glad you noticed."

Draco gave her a funny look. "Whatever," he said, taking his homework back and looking over it again.

Hermione stared back down at her books with wide eyes. She was going to have a little talk with Pansy about some additional things later on.

* * *

Ron had avoided Harry and "Hermione" all morning. He had even skipped Transfiguration. After he had overheard the conversation between Hermione and Pansy… or Pansy and Hermione, he didn't really feel like talking to anyone. He felt a little cheated and very upset. He couldn't believe that they had pulled the wool over his eyes for that long.

And though all of this made him mad, he was more confused than anything. He wasn't sure if he should go running to Harry and gain some support, or if he should confront Hermione herself first.

Then again, he felt so used and so manipulated that he wasn't sure he wanted to tell a soul. He had grown close to Hermione throughout the last week over everything with Harry, and with their stupid secrets… and now that he knew that it was only someone pretending to be Hermione, he almost wanted to teach her a lesson.

It might be fun to mess with Pansy a little bit. I mean, they had the nerve to fool him and Harry along with everyone else, why couldn't he have a little fun playing with them?

Though he couldn't tell Harry about this. Being Harry, he would immediately insist that they right the situation. And that was no fun in Ron's opinion.

* * *

Harry packed up his books after Transfiguration had ended and then turned to Hermione. "Did you see Ron this morning?" he asked. "I slept in and when I woke up he was already out of the room. I thought he would be in class, but…"

"I haven't seen him," Hermione answered. "I went to breakfast early and figured he'd be here with you when I got here."

"I hope he's okay," Harry muttered as they stood up and walked towards the door. "You know," he said, turning to Hermione once they were in the hallway. "It's been really strange this past week. I get the feeling that something just isn't right… and Ron has been acting so weird."

"Yeah," Hermione nodded slowly. She grabbed the sleeve of his shirt so that several first years who were running down the hallway wouldn't have a collision with him. "I wonder if something's bothering him."

Harry started to make his way towards their next class, Herbology. "You don't think he's been feeling left out, do you?"

"I don't think so," she replied. "Maybe he's just a little overwhelmed with classes."

"Yeah," Harry replied mindlessly. "Maybe."

* * *

Pansy and Harry walked into Herbology and noticed that Ron was already sitting at their table. They sat down on either side of him.

"What gives, Ron?" Harry wanted to know. "Why weren't you in Transfiguration?"

"Oh, sorry," Ron said, not looking at either one of them. "Something I ate at breakfast must not have agreed with me, so I went back to bed for a little bit. I feel loads better now, though."

"Oh," Harry said, shrugging his shoulders slightly as he looked over Ron's hunched shoulders at Pansy. "I glad you feel better."

"Me too," Pansy said, giving him a pat on the back. "It would be horrid to be sick over the weekend."

"Yeah," Ron said, turning his head to look at her and give her a small smile. "But since I'm feeling better, I can spend the weekend picking on you. And Harry, of course."

Pansy smiled back at him awkwardly and gave a nervous chuckle. "It's what you do best," she said.

"You have no idea," Ron grinned.

"Attention!" Professor Sprout said from the front of the greenhouse, interrupting their conversation. "Please, may I have your attention?"

Pasny stared at the plants in front of them, watching as the greens blended together into one big green blur. Yesterday, Ron had seemed completely normal… but today he was acting really creepy.

Why was everything in Gryffindor so horribly complicated?

* * *

Hermione walked into the Great Hall during lunch period, passing the Gryffindor table on her way down to the Slytherin one, and noticed that Ron was staring at her as she approached.

"What are you looking at?" she snapped at him, keeping up with her Pansy-like attitude.

He gave her a weird smile that she had seen on several occasions in the past. "Nothing," he said.

Hermione frowned at him as she passed, and quickly walked over to the Slytherin table, sitting down between Draco and Blaise. Ron's stare was very odd, very odd indeed, and she couldn't help but wonder why he would be staring at Pansy in such a way.

"Something wrong?" Blaise asked, and Hermione realized that she was staring at her empty plate. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Oh!" she said, reaching for a thick sandwich that sat on a large platter in front of them. "Yes, I was just thinking about something…"

"I see," Draco said, taking a big bite of his own sandwich. He seemed to have his eyes on the Gryffindor table as well. "Something's weird's going on with Potter and gang," he said after he had swallowed. "Don't they seem a little frazzled to you?"

"No," Hermione said quickly. "Aren't they always acting weird?"

"True, true," Draco agreed. "But they seem to be acting a bit more dodgy than their usual reckless selves."

"I haven't noticed anything," Hermione replied, trying not to stare at the back of Ron's red head. "Then again, I don't spend my time piecing together the lives of Gryffindors, mind you."

"Nor do I," Draco said.

"As if any of us would," Blaise added in while Crabbe and Goyle nodded vigorously from across the table.

"However," Draco went on as everyone watched him. "It's hard not to notice such ghastly behavior when I see them in class every day."

"I try to block it out," Hermione muttered, wishing he'd get off of his high horse and change the topic. "And maybe you should, too, since after all, it's really none of your business."

"As a Malfoy," Draco said. "I have the responsibility to make sure that the things going on his this school aren't full of rubbish. Therefore, when this school's students act so completely ridiculous that even students from other houses notice their behavior, I think I have the right to do something about it."

"And just what exactly are you going to do, Draco?" Blaise asked.

"You don't think I didn't see that horrid look that Weasley was shooting at Pansy," Draco said, turning to look at both Hermione and Blaise. "It was completely inappropriate, and if I have anything to do with it, he won't even glance in her direction ever again."

Hermione sighed, putting her hands over her face in agony. "Draco," she muttered. "Why can't you just let it go?"

"Because Gryffindors should know their place!" he proclaimed. "And Weasley should not be making inconsiderate faces at any Slytherin, much less you."

She put her hands down so that she could look at him. "Can't you just drop it? What if I promise that I'll let you know if it happens again… and if it does, then you can do something about it. But seriously, Draco, one wrong look isn't enough to beat someone up over."

"Beat up?" Draco said, as though the words were foreign. "Malfoys do not resort to such Muggle practices. And I'm ashamed that you would even think such a thing!"

"Ugh," Hermione groaned, her shoulders slumping. "How do I ever deal with you?!"

Blaise gave her a sympathetic chuckle, and Draco smiled a crooked smile that couldn't have belonged to anyone else in a million years.

"No, Pansy dear," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders and squeezing her tight. "The correct question would be… why don't you put up with me more often?"

Hermione stared across the table at Crabbe and Goyle who were looking at them with interested eyes as they stuffed their mouths with potatoes. She lifted Draco's hand and dropped it away from her shoulder. "I swear, Draco," she said. "If you do anything stupid, I'm going to be really angry with you."

"Oooo," Blaise said, leaning back so that he wouldn't get caught up in some sort of fight.

"Aw, c'mon, Pans," Draco said, grabbing her once again. "Since when do you stick up for Gryffindors? It's not like I would hurt them or anything… I'll just be giving them a piece of my mind… while making it clear to them that if they want to ogle after someone, they better make it someone else's girl."

Hermione groaned. It was no use. Once Draco had made up his mind, it was obvious that there was no point in trying to change it.

* * *

Before dinner that night, Pansy found refuge in the Gryffindor Common Room and was trying to work on her Transfiguration homework. Once again, Lavender and Parvati were occupying her room and going on and on about how Lavender suspected Dean Thomas of having a huge crush on her. Pansy had quickly excused herself, and then took a seat alone in the corner of the Common Room, her homework on her lap.

She hadn't been sitting there for long, when the sound of someone flopping down on the couch opposite from her made her look up from her homework.

It was Ron, and he had that weird smile on his face once again. "Hey, Hermione," he said. "What's going on?"

"Not much," Pansy replied. "I'm just studying Transfiguration is all. What are you up to?"

"Oh, just wanting to catch up with my dear old friend," he said.

Pansy stared at him for a moment. "And who is that?"

"Why, you, of course," Ron grinned.

Pansy slowly looked around the room, hoping there would be someone there to interrupt the conversation. Unfortunately, they were the only two currently there. "Okay…" she said slowly. "Anything I can help you with?"

"I was just thinking about our previous years here at Hogwarts. We're writing papers on it in Divination," he said, a thoughtful look overcoming his face as he looked off to the side. "And I had a little trouble recalling some things. I thought maybe you could help me."

Pansy gulped. "Um, sure," she said. "But can we wait until I'm done with my Transfiguration homework? I'm kind of in the middle of things right now…"

"Can we do it now, if it's okay?" Ron wondered. "We're meeting for a special midnight class tonight, and I haven't even started."

"Oh," she said, dreading the outcome of the upcoming conversation. "Well, I guess I could help. What's the question?"

Ron sat up and leaned forward. "Well, remember that one time we were in Hagrid's hut back during first year, and he had an egg that was ready to hatch? I tried so hard to remember what kind of creature that was, but for some reason, it's just not coming to me. Do you remember what it was?"

"Um…" Pansy thought hard. Given all of the weird creatures that Hagrid harbored, who knew what it could be? It could have been anything! And that's when it hit her. She had remembered that Draco had come back to the Common Room at some point in their first year talking about how Hagrid had hatched a dragon and Harry Potter and his friends had all been present… after hours. All four of them had to do detention in the Forbidden Forest. "Wasn't it a dragon? Geez, Ron, that was so long ago. I'm surprised I even remembered."

Ron stared at her for a moment, and then smiled. "Oh, yeah," he said. "That's right… a dragon. Well, thanks, Hermione."

Before she could tell him he was welcome, he was up from the couch and climbing the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

That was a close one.

* * *

Ron went into his empty dormitory and ran his fingers through his red hair. It would only figure that she'd have some sort of lucky guess. Slytherins got by on luck, after all. It was a well known fact. 

He threw his backpack down beside his bed and watched as the books spilled out onto the floor. That's when he wondered what he would say and do if he actually caught her. Did he have the guts to call her out on it? After all, she did currently have the face of his best friend, Hermione. It would be a tad bit difficult to treat her like a Slytherin when she looked just like a Gryffindor.

He sighed, throwing himself down on his bed and reaching over to pull his curtains closed. It was going to be one hell of a long weekend.

* * *

Hermione followed Draco down the dungeon halls. Two minutes ago, he had announced that he was in the pursuit of Weasley and stormed out of the Slytherin Common Room. Hermione had grabbed his sleeve and tried to stop him, but he pulled away and continued on his way down the hallway.

"Draco," she called as she caught up to him at the stairs. "This is really dumb, you know. What are you going to say to him, anyway?"

"You'll see," Draco muttered as he dashed up the stairs. "I just have to find him first."

"You do realize," Hermione said, trying her best to keep up with his long legs. "That he's probably tucked away in the Gryffindor Common Room and won't come out till morning. What good is you storming all around the castle looking for him going to do when you can't get to him anyway?"

Draco stopped in his tracks, and Hermione crashed into his back. "You're right," he said as Hermione regained her balance. "This is such a waste of my energy. What would I do without you, Pans?"

"Run around like a chicken with its head cut off?" she suggested, only to receive a nasty look from him.

"Malfoys do not run around like chickens, Pansy. Get it straight."

"Yes, your highness," Hermione said, giving him a mock bow. "I'll think before I speak next time, your highness."

Draco laughed at her as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back towards the dungeons. "I seriously don't know what I'd do without you," he said as they went back down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, he let go of her wrist and put his arm around her waist. "And that's exactly why I want Weasley to know that you're completely off limits to him. No one messes with my favorite girl."

Hermione rolled his eyes. So yeah, he was a bit overwhelming at first… but there was one positive thing about Draco; he was loyal to his friends, and he truly cared for Pansy. He was actually making her feel special.

"Just do me a favor," she said as they approached the door to the Slytherin Common Room.

"What's that?" he asked.

"When you confront Ron… you have to promise me that you won't make such a big scene over it. The whole school does not need to know about this."

"What's the fun of that?" Draco pouted.

Hermione elbowed him in the ribs and broke away from his hold. "Boys," she muttered, pushing her way through the entrance.

* * *

t took Pansy fifteen extra minutes to dodge Gryffindors before she could get out of the Common Room. Ginny had tried to engage her in another horrid conversation that resembled the one from breakfast, and Harry had attempted to get her to join him in a game of cards. She had avoided them all and once she was out in the hallway, she was finally alone… though she was a little late to meet Hermione.

"Hey," she said, closing the door to the secret room behind herself and leaning back against it. "Sorry, I'm late. It was really hard to get away on a Friday night, believe it or not."

"I believe it," Hermione said. She was at the small table, leaning over the potion. While it had been a shade of purple earlier that week, it was now almost black. "And look. The potion seems to be right on track." She flipped open her book, and pointed at a diagram while Pansy walked over to look at it. "See, it's turning darker each day, just as the text says it will."

"Did you do any research about speeding the brewing process up?" Pansy inquired as she stared down into the dark purple slop along with Hermione. "I'm dying to get back into my own body!"

"I know," Hermione said. "And so am I, but I only found one article in an obscure text that even mentioned anything about this potion besides the original book that I found it in. It says here," she said, pulling the copy of the article out from behind the text book, "that it's possible to speed up the potion up by five days by heating it slowly, at forty degrees Celsius for exactly two hours at any point during the brewing process."

"So that means," Pansy interpreted, "that all we have to do is create a spell to keep the potion at forty degrees for two hours. Do you know of any such spell?"

Hermione bent over and pulled out another book from her bag. She placed it on top of the article and flipped it open to the first page. "It's lesson one in seventh year Potions," she explained. "It's really lucky that I bought my copy in advance."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Yeah," she mumbled, "Lucky. Anyway, let's do this tonight. There are eight days left for the potion to brew. So, if we heat it up tonight, then it'll only be three more days until we can switch back for good."

"Right," Hermione agreed. "Let me just look this over a bit, and then we can start with the spell."

Pansy nodded and then backed up to the sofa. She plopped down on it and crossed one leg over the other. "I'll just wait here," she smiled.

* * *

Ron woke up the next morning to a pillow over his face. He gasped and clawed at it until he was sitting up and breathing heavily. Harry was standing next to his bed laughing.

"Are you trying to suffocate me or something?" Ron yelled once he had caught his breath.

"Oh, please, Ron," Harry said, still laughing. "All I did was hit you in the face with a pillow. It was you who imagined being suffocated. It was quite funny, actually."

Ron threw the pillow back at Harry and watched as Harry batted it away. It landed on the floor, the sunlight that shone through the windows capturing the little particles of dust that rose up from the floor. "You are a complete moron, Harry. You know that, right?"

"Whatever," Harry chuckled. He walked away and took his pajama shirt off, only to replace it with a warm red sweater. "Hey," said, turning around to look at Ron. "If you wanna catch breakfast, it ends in thirty minutes. We better get going."

"Okay," Ron said, throwing the blankets away from his legs. "I'm actually starving."

"Actually starving?" Harry echoed. "Ron… aren't you always starving?"

Ron patted his chest and grinned. "I am a growing man, after all," he explained.

* * *

Hermione, Draco and Blaise had just left the Great Hall and had plans to go for a walk around the lake. Of course Crabbe and Goyle had stayed behind for breakfast seconds. Hermione didn't really mind. She was sick of feeling like she was being followed all the time anyway.

"You know what?" Draco said as they walked down the main hallway. "Before we go out, I would just like to get my hands on that Weasley. It was bothering me all night the he was in his bed, probably dreaming of you, when I could have already put a curse on him."

"Draco," Hermione groaned. "Would you just get over it? Plotting harm to other people does not create a very happy existence. Not even for you."

"Says who?" Draco demanded. "People who do wrong things deserve to be punished."

His last comment had made Hermione go from annoyed to angry. Since when did Draco Malfoy have the power to judge people? If she remembered correctly, he wasn't always in the right himself.

"You're a jerk, you know that?" she said, stopping in the hallway and letting Blaise sidestep around her to avoid a collision. "I put up with you, Draco, because I know that you can be a really nice person. But then there are times when I just want to sew your mouth shut! It's just amazing how much better you think you are than everyone else." She took a few deep breaths as he gawked at her in shock. "Well, I'm sorry to be the first one to tell you this, but you're not as great as you think you are!"

At the moment, Harry and Ron were walking towards them. They slowed down when they noticed that this wasn't the typical Slytherin gathering.

Hermione thought Draco would leap at the chance to point his wand at Ron and give him the worst curse he could recall from his Defense Against the Dark Arts book, but Draco was still staring at her, his mouth open slightly. She didn't think he had blinked since she had finished her speech.

But now that Harry and Ron were standing several feet away from them, she couldn't get up the nerve to say another word.

Blaise grabbed her arm and pulled her to the other side of the hallway so that Harry and Ron could pass by. "Pansy," he said into her ear. "You should apologize to Draco."

Hermione yanked away from Blaise so hard, that she almost tripped over his foot and fell flat on her nose. Luckily, she had used the wall for leverage and remained upright.

"What's going on here?" Ron said, finally breaking the silence.

Hermione looked over at Draco, who was still staring at her as if she had ripped his vocal cords out of his throat. "Um… um…" she stammered, trying to think about what to do next. She knew she had to either get Harry and Ron to leave, or make herself, Draco and Blaise disappear.

"Look," she said, finally, turning to Harry and Ron. "This is sort of a personal conversation, so would you mind leaving us alone?"

Ron scoffed at her and then glanced at Harry. "It would take a Slytherin to assume that the hallway is their personal meeting grounds. Heaven forbid someone from another house comes along, since they own the hallways."

This was getting bad, Hermione decided. So instead of arguing more with Ron, she marched over to Draco and grabbed his stiff arm, trying her best to pull his stunned body away from the scene. "Let's go, Draco," she said, trying to ease him along. "Blaise, would you get over here and help me!?" she hissed when she realized she didn't have enough strength to pull him.

Blaise leapt into action and took Draco's other arm. Together, they pulled him away from Harry and Ron, whose eyes followed them until they had turned the corner.

"What the hell was that?" Blaise demanded once the Gryffindors were out of earshot. "What did Draco do to make you so angry at him?"

"It's not what he did specifically," Hermione said back to him. "It's how he treats other people. I've had just about enough of his mightier than thou attitude, and if he doesn't tone it down, then I'm really going to show him a piece of my mind."

Blaise looked at her with wide eyes. "Okay…" he said slowly, and then turned to concentrate on his steps. "I'm just glad I'm not Draco right now."

* * *

Ron stared after Hermione as she lugged Draco away. He had heard the tail end of her little rant to Draco, and quite frankly, he was rather impressed. She was still in there somewhere, he was sure of it. Now if only they could get her back for good.

Harry was still staring at where they had disappeared at the end of the hallway. "Something seems a little off with the Slytherins," he said, finally turning around and catching up with Ron, who had already begun making his way towards the Great Hall.

"No kidding," Ron agreed. "Everything is a little off lately, if you ask me."

Harry nodded, and they entered the main doors and went to sit at their end of the table, where Pansy was already seated, poking her food with a fork.

"Hey, Hermione," Harry said as he and Ron sat down on either side of her. "How was your night?"

She turned to smile at Harry. "It went well. How about for you two?"

"Long and horrid," Ron said before Harry had a chance to reply. "And I woke up to a pillow in my face delivered by my dear friend, Harry."

Pansy looked between them and then back down in her plate before scooping up a pile of hash browns on her fork. "You two should really be nicer to each other," she said. "If you did, then you wouldn't fight so much."

"Who said we were fighting?" Ron wanted to know. "Can't I complain in good humor every once in awhile?"

Pansy shrugged. "I guess," she muttered as she lifted the fork to her mouth.

Ron purposely bumped her elbow just as she was about to take a bite, and watched as hash browns and ketchup landed all over her khaki pants.

"Ron! You idiot!" Pansy exclaimed, standing up and holding out her arms in shock. "Look at my pants! It looks like..."

Harry quickly jumped up and held his white napkin out in front of her. "It's not so bad," he assured her. "But you should probably change and wash that out."

Pansy snatched the napkin from him and then glared at Ron. "I think you purposely bumped my elbow," she accused. "And don't lie to me, Ron!"

Ron put on his best innocent look and offered her his own white napkin. "I'm sorry, Hermione," he said. "I honestly didn't mean to make you spill your food."

Harry had apparently seen the red rising in Pansy's cheeks, because he stood between them and glared at Ron as well. "Just shut up, Ron," he said. "You're making things worse."

"I'm going to go change," Pansy announced, and walked away from the table, still holding Harry's napkin over her lap.

Both Ron and Harry were left to stare after her, just as they had stared after the Slytherins. Once she was gone, Harry turned to Ron with narrowed eyes. "Do you have a chip on your shoulder?" he demanded. "The way you apologized to Hermione seemed a little… forgive me for saying… fake."

Ron sighed. "Don't you know me, Harry," he said, sitting back down at the table and loading his fork with a big chunk of a blueberry pancakes. "Why would I purposely bump Hermione when she had her fork by her mouth?"

For awhile, Harry didn't say anything, but after a few moments, Ron saw him sit down again and slowly start picking at his food. "No," he mumbled through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "I know you wouldn't do something like that."

* * *

Hermione and Blaise put Draco down on one of the huge black leather couches in the Slytherin Common Room and sat down across from him, watching to see if he'd move.

"One way to get him," Blaise said, still staring across at a very stunned Draco, "is to insult his ego. Way to go, Pansy."

"I didn't realize he was so… sensitive," Hermione muttered. She stood up and sat down besides him. "Come on, Draco," she said, nudging him in the shoulder. "So yeah, maybe you don't have the right to judge people as much as you do, but that doesn't mean you're all bad." She paused to look at his pale face. He seemed so sad. "I mean, you're nice to me, aren't you? And you're pretty decent to Blaise and several other people…"

Draco suddenly slumped against her, his blonde hair tickling her neck, and she put her arms around him, holding him close to her chest. When she realized that he wasn't about to sit up straight, she motioned to Blaise that he should leave the room.

"I'm sorry if anything that I said upset you," she told him when she felt his arms tighten around her waist. "But you need to realize that the things you say can hurt other people."

"I'm not stupid," he muttered against her collarbone.

"I realize that," she acknowledged. "But next time you say something, just keep in mind that you're not the only person who has feelings."

He suddenly pulled away from her and sat up straight, and she was surprised to see that his eyes were dry. "Something's changed about you," he said, his voice steady. "You're not like you used to be."

Hermione blinked at him. "Maybe I've grown…" she suggested. "People change, you know."

"I know," he replied. "Just not that quickly. Something's up."

"Like what?" she asked, almost afraid to hear his answer.

He reached over and grabbed her face, his fingers on one cheek and his thumb on the other, and he leaned close to look right into her eyes. "I'm looking at the same blue eyes that I've looked at for years," he said while she tried not to tremble under his gaze. "But something's not right. There's something different somewhere inside of you."

Scared, she pushed his hands away and looked away from his eyes. "Don't be silly, Draco," she said. "I'm still Pansy Parkinson. Why does anything else matter?"

"Because," he said, simply, taking her chin back in his hands and forcing her to look back at him. "Because I never felt this way for you before," and he leaned towards her so slowly, that she thought if he didn't put his arms around her at that second, she'd fall over.

And his kiss was warm and soft; nothing like Hermione had ever felt before. The next second later, or so it seemed, he had pulled away from her, leaving her almost completely breathless in the kiss' wake. "Draco…" she whispered, when she realized he wasn't backing away from her.

"There's something about you," he said, his breath on her face. "That I didn't see before. And I'm sorry when I say stupid things. I didn't realize that a lot of the things I say upset you. So, I'm sorry. I'll stop saying such stupid things, I promise."

Hermione stared at his eyes. "It's not that you upset me," she told him, her breath suddenly jumping back into her lungs. "It's that you don't realize the hurt you cause to the people you say these things about. Maybe if you'd put yourself in someone else's shoes once in awhile, you'd realize that life isn't always a bed of roses for them."

He leaned back from her, the calm expression on his face flickering away. "And you think my life is so simple?" he accused.

Hermione leaned back in her seat and covered her eyes with her hands in frustration. "I never said that," she groaned and then lowered her hands. "Everyone has hurdles in their lives, Draco. You have yours, I have mine, and all of the strangers that you've never met before have theirs. That's all I meant by that."

He folded his arms over his chest and looked over at her suspiciously. "Because I have some pretty big problems in my life," he assured her. "Even if you don't know what they are, trust me, they exist."

She sighed slightly. "I'm sorry," she said, waiting for him to elaborate, but he just stared at her. "I really am sorry," she said when he said nothing.

He looked away. "Yeah."

She reached out for his hand, but he stood up before she could touch him. "I'm going to go on a walk," he said, as if he had just decided it at that moment. "We can talk more later."

"Okay…" Hermione said, watching as he walked through the Slytherin Common Room doors with no winter robes.


	10. Chapter 10 Avoiding You

**Author's Note: Once again, thanks for your wonderful reviews. I have three more chapters ready... still working on Chapter 14. I'm afraid I'm going to catch up to myself here... eep! Please read and Review!**

* * *

**Time for a Change  
Chapter Ten  
By: Lori Finnegan  
2006**

Draco pushed open the doors to the side of the castle and walked out across the grass. He could feel the cold air through his thin shirt, but he didn't even care. It almost felt numbing. Almost, but not quite.

He was mad at Pansy for having such different opinions from him, but at the same time, his heart ached for her. It was a horrible feeling of being so torn in two, that he felt like he could barely stand.

But he kept on going. He walked all the way down the hill and made his way to the lake. He stepped right up to the edge, looking expressionless over the cold, black waters, his face reflecting back at him through the ripples, and he picked up a rock. After staring for a moment at his white face, he threw it at his reflection, watching as the colors scattered off to the sides, and then centered back in the middle, showing his face once more.

* * *

After an excruciatingly quiet breakfast with Harry, Ron had excused himself and decided to try and get away from everything for at least a little while. He decided his best shot at a new perspective was to get a little fresh air, so he headed outside and started to walk around the castle.

As he approached the Quidditch fields, he noticed someone standing in the very center of the field. The figure wore a black sweater and black pants, and his hair looked white in the sun.

Of course it was Draco Malfoy. After the state Ron had seen him in earlier, Ron was surprised that Draco was even standing straight on his own. He stood at the edge of the field for several moments and watched as Draco did the same. Ron didn't think he had noticed him.

"Hey, Malfoy!" he called out, and watched as Draco turned around to face him. Ron could see his piercing silver eyes even from a distance. Ron didn't actually think that Draco would react. He thought that Draco would glare at him, and then turn around and walk the other way, as if Ron didn't mean a thing to him.

However, Malfoy started to walk towards him, and quickly. He was walking so quickly, that Ron stiffened and wondered if maybe he should start running in the other direction. But Ron stood his ground. So when Draco stood before him, Ron was looking at him in the eyes.

"What," Draco demanded. "Did you come looking for me?"

"No," Ron exclaimed as if it were the most ridiculous claim in the world. "Why would I go looking for you? I was just taking a walk, if that's any of your business."

"Then why didn't you walk by?" Draco wanted to know. "Why did you call out?"

Ron shrugged. "I don't know. You just seemed a little odd before. I was wondering if you were going to fall over or something. That's all."

"You really have the nerve," Draco said, his eyes narrowing at Ron. "First I catch you ogling Pansy, and then you follow me out here to mock me?"

"Ogling!?" Ron exclaimed. "When did I ever ogle her?"

"Just yesterday!" Draco yelled back at him. "So do me a favor, and leave us the hell alone." He shoved past Ron and kept walking.

Ron spun around and watched as he disappeared around the end of the castle. When Hermione had switched places with Pansy, it turned out that he and Harry weren't the only ones who had their lives turned up on end.

Hey, at least he didn't get cursed.

* * *

Draco walked as fast as he could away from Ron without resorting to running. Malfoys, after all, did not run. Everything was so completely messed up, that his head felt as though it were spinning. And not only had he gotten in a fight with Pansy, but he still couldn't believe he had actually kissed her. He didn't know how in hell he was going to reconcile after that scene.

Feeling defeated, he walked back to the warmth of the castle, and entered the main doors. He didn't know where he was going to go, or what he was going to do next, so he just let his feet lead him.

In a few minutes, Draco stood in front of a door in the dungeon hallways. He recognized it because it was where he and Pansy used to go to get away from all of the other Slytherins from time to time. If he were to hide out in their secret room, he could pretend that none of it had ever happened. He could pretend that he hadn't revealed his feelings to Pansy, and that Weasley didn't think he was the laughingstock of Hogwarts.

So he went inside, and down the secret hallway with his lit wand. And when he reached the room, he closed the door and turned lit the two lamps.

The second he had sat down on the couch, he noticed several sheets of paper on top of the small table against the wall. Curious, he stood up again and walked over to the table to check it out. He reached for the papers and looked them over carefully.

The first sheet was filled with handwriting that he just barely recognized as Pansy's, the much neater form of it, of course. It was a list of ingredients and instructions on how to make a potion called rectus reversal. Now he was even more curious as he looked at the second sheet, which was a photocopy from a text book that talked about the particular potion.

Draco wondered why Pansy wanted to switch bodies with another person… it was a little odd, he thought, that she would be brewing secret potions and not mention a word of it to him. In the past, they had always plotted things together.

Shrugging, he placed the papers back on the table and sat down on the couch once again, making a mental not to ask Pansy about her secret potion later.

* * *

Hermione had spent most of the day in her room, avoiding not only Draco, but Blaise and the other Slytherins as well. She just didn't know what to say to them anymore. Everything was such a big lie, and she felt horrible for continuing it.

It wasn't until six o'clock that evening that her stomach began to growl, and she realized that she had forgotten about lunch. Instead of eating, she had, of course, buried herself in her homework and had tried to forget about all of the events of the past week. But now she was so hungry, that she couldn't ignore her stomach any longer. She would have to sneak out of the Slytherin dormitories and past the Common Room in order to even have a chance to sneak into the Great Hall for her dinner.

Taking a chance, she pushed her books and parchment aside and opened her bedroom door. She looked both ways to make sure that no one was hovering around her door, and then made a break for it. She walked with her head held high, and didn't bother to look at anyone she passed. She could hear Blaise call for Pansy once, but she pretended she didn't hear and kept right on walking.

School was beginning to be unbearable. Not only did she miss her friends so much she wanted to spend the rest of the day crying, but she was also getting really sick of the Slytherins. So maybe Draco had his good points, and maybe he wasn't all evil like she had original thought he was, but he was still Draco Malfoy, and no matter how many times he proved to her that he wasn't a horrible person, she would still miss Harry and Ron about ten times more than she wanted to continue spending the time with him.

She quickly walked to the Great Hall, trying to stop the tears that were brewing in her eyes, but it didn't seem to be working, and she felt a warm tear running down one of her cheeks. She stopped in the hallway to wipe it away with the sleeve of her sweater.

"Are you okay?" said a familiar deep voice, but she didn't turn around to look.

"I'm fine," she spat out, hoping he didn't notice the crack in her voice. "What do you want?"

"You just seem upset, that's all," Ron said, peeking around her shoulder. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Hermione shook her head, turning away from him slightly. She was afraid he might see through to her real self. "Can you please leave me alone?"

But Ron didn't leave. He just stood there, staring at her, as if he had no intention on leaving anytime soon. "Not if you're going to be crying," he said. "What kind of a gentleman would I be?"

Hermione finally turned to look at him. "The kind who respects the wishes of a girl?" she suggested.

But he smiled at her. And it was the classic Ron smile, and suddenly, Hermione didn't feel like crying anymore. But the fact that she was starting to feel like Hermione instead of Pansy startled her, and she realized just how close she was to giving into those feelings. Just as she was about to smile at him, she repressed it and pushed past him, shoving his shoulder in the process.

"I have to go," she said as she continued on her way to the Great Hall. And when she was sure he couldn't hear her anymore, she said softly, "I'm sorry, Ron."

* * *

When Draco returned to the Common Room after his long stay in the secret room, Blaise had informed him that Pansy had headed out about a half an hour ago, most likely to dinner, he suspected. So Draco sat down in one of the chairs by the fireplace, waiting for her. She had to come back at some point that evening, and when she did, Draco was planning on asking her about this secret potion she had been working on.

As he waited, Blaise sat opposite him on another chair, staring intently into the fire. "Hey, Draco," he said, after it had been silent between the two for several moments. "I know that something is going on between you and Pansy… I mean, it has been there in a way for a while, but something is strange lately."

Draco looked over at him and then back into the fire. "You're telling me," he muttered. "Even I don't know what's going on anymore… but I get the feeling that she's hiding something from me." He thought about telling Blaise about the strange papers he had found in their secret room, but if he did that, he would not only reveal the secret room, but might also inadvertently be telling on Pansy. For all he knew, the potion could be quite illegal.

"You know," Blaise said, his eyes still focused on Draco. "I get that same feeling. It's like… when I talk with her, she almost seems like she's withdrawn. She's not the same Pansy that I remember."

Draco didn't move his eyes away from the fire. "Not the same Pansy…" he echoed Blaise's statement slowly. All of it seemed very strange. Not only was Pansy completely different, but he had stumbled upon some potion about reversing bodies. Could Pansy be in some sort of trouble? Or maybe…

The door to the Common Room opened up and Pansy stood there, alone. She took one look at Draco and Blaise, who were looking back at her and froze.

Draco stood up and beckoned her over. "Can I talk to you, Pans?" he asked. "Will you come sit down?"

Pansy nodded and slowly walked over to where Draco and Blaise sat. She sat down across from Blaise in a loveseat and waited for Draco to sit as well. "Is everything okay?" she wanted to know.

Draco didn't know what to say. No, not everything was okay, but he didn't know how to say that to her. "Sure," he finally decided to say as he sat down and then looked over at Blaise. "Can you leave us alone for a bit?" he requested.

Blaise shrugged and then reluctantly left them alone. Draco was sure that Blaise would have wanted to stay for all the juicy details.

Once he was gone, Draco turned to Pansy. "Look," he said. "I'm sorry about earlier today. I was acting like a complete jerk and everything that happened was entirely my fault." He took a deep breath. It took a lot for a Malfoy to admit fault to anything much less everything.

Pansy blinked at him. "Draco… don't apologize to me for being honest," she said.

"I'm not," he insisted. "I truly do want to change. You were right. You were right about everything."

She looked away from him.

"But that's not really what I want to talk to you about," Draco said, leaning forward in his seat. "Today, I was upset… and I just wanted to get away. So I went into that secret room that we used to use all the time when we were younger."

Pansy looked at him, alarmed. "You did?" she asked, her voice barely working.

"Yes," Draco confirmed, watching her closely. "And I happened upon something that I didn't expect… and it was in your handwriting." He looked over at Pansy, but she didn't say a word. "Something about a potion called rectus reversal. Is something going on that I don't know about?"

Pansy looked away from him, and then looked back quickly. "It was supposed to be a secret," she said, her voice unsteady. "After getting that low grade in potions, I asked Snape for an opportunity for extra credit so that I could catch up."

Draco frowned at her. He knew for a fact that Snape never gave out extra credit. He seemed to enjoy it when his students were failing… even Slytherins, at times. "Snape gave you an extra credit assignment?" he asked, wondering if she'd give more details or just confess it was a lie.

"I know what you're thinking," Pansy said, crossing one leg over the other and folding her arms over her chest. "I know that Snape doesn't give out extra credit… but he hinted to me that if I wrote a paper on a special potion and attached it to my next assignment, he would consider it."

"Oh," Draco said, still suspicious. "Then why are you hiding it in the secret room if it's a legit assignment?"

"Snape told me to keep it under wraps," she explained. "He didn't want the other students to think that they could do the same thing to raise their grades. You know that he sometimes favors the Slytherins over other students."

Draco nodded. "Yeah…" he said. "Okay, I just wanted to make sure you weren't in some sort of trouble. When I was reading about it, it sounded like a pretty serious potion… and not one that a sixth year student would attempt. Maybe you should ask for Snape's help."

"No," Pansy said quickly. "The challenge of the assignment is to do it on my own. Otherwise, I'm sure he won't give me an extra point."

"Oh," Draco said again. "Well, okay. Let me know if you need any help, though, okay?"

Pansy nodded. "Thanks," she said. "And you should go to dinner. They're about to close for the night."

"Yeah," Draco sighed. He didn't remember eating much at all so far.

* * *

Hermione decided to leave the Slytherin Common Room all together. Draco's discovery of her notes had frightened her. In fact, she was very surprised that he hadn't figured out her secret entirely. Then again, Pansy was his best friend, and he trusted her… so maybe that was why it didn't immediately down on him.

She went up to the Astronomy tower and leaned over the balcony, even though it was freezing outside that night. The stars were shining brightly in the clear, dark blue sky, and she found herself mesmerized by the sparkling lights

"What are you doing here?"

Hermione turned around to see Pansy standing there. In the moonlight, Hermione could see that Pansy's face was stained with tears. "I needed some fresh air," she explained. "Are you okay?"

Pansy wiped her eyes. "I'm fine," she insisted. "It's just that I'm a little upset over the state of things. I'm sure you can understand."

"Yeah," Hermione nodded. "I understand. I know it's been really difficult this past week, and things aren't getting any better. Not only did I notice that Ron is acting really weird, but Draco got into that secret room and found my notes on the potion.

Pansy sobered up quickly. "He what!?" she exclaimed, her breath coming out in a large puff in the cold air. "And what happened?!"

Hermione sighed and looked back over the railing. "I made up some stupid lie about how Snape gave me an extra credit assignment, and I was secretly working on it in that room. I think he might have bought it… but I'm not one hundred percent sure."

Pansy gaped at her. "He believed that? I mean… Snape doesn't give out extra credit!"

"I know!" Hermione turned to say. "And he said that, but I told him that it wasn't an official assignment, that he had just hinted that he might give me a few extra points if I did write an extra paper."

"Oh," Pansy said, her shoulders slumping. "Well… if he bought it, I guess. And who cares, anyway? In a few days, this will all be over."

"Yeah," Hermione replied. "I'm getting a little stressed out over everything. I think I've seen enough Slytherins to last me the whole year."

Pansy went up besides her and leaned over the railing. "Maybe we can just stay up here until then, and explain later why we were missing."

"I wish," Hermione signed. "Unfortunately, there are several people who would be tearing the walls down looking for us."

It was Pansy's turn to sigh. "Yeah," she said, leaning a little further over the railing.

Hermione looked down at the grass that stretched all the way to the dark lake. "We'll just have to go back eventually… and grin and bear it."

* * *

Harry hadn't seen Hermione all day. He hadn't seen even seen her at lunch, so when he walked into dinner, he had expected to see her for sure. After all, she wasn't the type to skip meals, but when he entered the Great Hall, she wasn't there. He was beginning to worry. And the strange thing was, when he asked Ron if he had seen her, Ron had just laughed and walked away from him.

Left alone in his room with Neville and Dean Thomas, Harry stared at the door that Ron had exited. Everything had turned on its head, and Harry felt as though he were in some sort of dream world where anything could happen next.

"Did you ever figure out what was going on with Hermione?" Neville asked after it was apparent that Ron was not going to be coming back in the next several minutes.

"Not really," Harry shrugged, still looking at the closed door. "And things just keep getting stranger." He turned to face Neville. "Did you see how he reacted when I asked him that question?"

"Yeah," Neville said, and Dean nodded from his seat at his desk. Neville walked over to Ron's area and sat on his trunk, facing Harry. "To be honest with you, Harry, I was a little worried about everything that had been going on between the three of you lately, so I asked Ginny to help… I had her speak with Hermione, but when I asked her what had happened, she wouldn't tell me too much about it."

Harry felt like he was stuck… like there was nothing he could do to fix things at the moment. Everything was so beyond his reach, that he didn't even have a clue about what he should do to help Ron and Hermione.

"It all just… really stinks," Harry decided. He stood up from his desk and sat down on his bed, falling over and flopping into his pillows. "I think I'm just going to go to sleep… and stay asleep."

Neither Neville nor Dean said a word.

* * *

Ron couldn't believe it. He was so glad that he had found out about Hermione's little secret, as it was so entertaining, but he felt like sharing his amusement with someone. There just wasn't anyone that he could tell.

As he walked down the stairs and into the Gryffindor Common Room, he saw his little sister there with her nose in a book. When he stood in front of her, she lowered it.

"What do you want, Ron?" she asked, as if he was the last person in the world that she wanted to see at that moment. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Geez, Ginny," he said, sitting down on the other end of the couch. "You're reading a book on a Saturday night. I don't really call that busy."

"Well, maybe you need a new dictionary," Ginny suggested as she raised her book back up to her face and looked as though she was going to ignore him. "Piss off, Ron."

"Why should I go?" he asked, sounding defensive. "Can't I talk to my sister every once in a while?"

"No," she said simply. "Now, piss off."

"What's wrong with you, today? Did you get dumped by your boyfriend or something?"

Ginny put down her book and glared at him. "I don't even have a boyfriend," she said between clenched teeth."

"Oh," Ron said, looking away with a small knowing smile. "I guess that's what's been bothering you lately. Feeling a little left out in the cold, Ginny?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Ron, it's not like you have a girlfriend. So don't give me that."

"How do you know?" Ron demanded.

"What?" Ginny said, sounding and looking completely bored.

"I said," Ron said, leaning forward. "How do you know that I don't have a girlfriend? It's not like we've talked recently. And even if I did have a girlfriend, you're not exactly the first person I'd tell."

Ginny put her book back up and looked down at its pages. "Whatever," she said. "Why don't you go and brag about your non existent girlfriend to someone who cares."

Ron stood up and glared at his sister. He opened his mouth to say something mean and insulting, but couldn't think of anything better than what she had just said to him, so he turned on his heels and walked towards the Common Room's exit. Without even looking back, he stepped through the door and walked out into the hallways.

* * *

Pansy, cold from being on the balcony for far too long that night, left Hermione alone and decided to head back to the Gryffindor dormitories so that she could forget about the day and go to bed. She figured that the more she slept, the faster time would go. Perhaps tomorrow, she could pretend to be sick and just lie and bed all day. Then Monday wouldn't be so long with classes and all… before she knew it, she and Hermione would be drinking the potion and all would be well once again.

But before she could get back safe and sound to her room, she ran into Ron in the hallways. He looked flushed and upset, and she wasn't about to guess why.

"Hi, Ron," she said as she slowed down to acknowledge him politely, as Hermione would. "Are you okay? You look a little… red."

"I'm fine," he snapped, turning his head away from her.

Pansy stopped walking and turned around to face his back. "You don't seem okay…" she said slowly.

"It's nothing," Ron said without turning around. "My sister is just being a complete snot right now. I had to get out of the Common Room."

"Oh," she said. "Maybe she's going through a rough time."

Ron turned around to face her. "She must be," he agreed, looking at Pansy carefully. "Hey, what are you doing out in the halls so late? Snape's night to patrol the halls is tonight, you know."

"I know," Pansy said, and boy did she ever know. "I just really needed some fresh air so I was hanging out on the balcony. Things have been… really stuffy around here lately."

Ron looked down at his feet. "You're telling me," he muttered. "I can't wait for winter break. Mum and Dad are doing an old fashioned Christmas this year. Charlie is even coming home from Romania."

Pansy had no idea who Charlie was or why he was in Romania, but she nodded politely. "That would be nice," she said. The truth was she had never had an old fashioned Christmas in her entire life. Her dad had left the family to go off with some of the other male wizards in his family, and she hadn't heard from any of them since. Her mother said that he was probably dead, but Pansy wasn't so sure about that.

"Harry's probably coming, too," Ron went on, and then paused. "It's either the Weasley clan or the Dursleys for him."

Pansy didn't know who the Dursleys were, but she assumed they were the family that Harry had grown up with when his parents were killed. "He'll probably go stay with you," she agreed, resorting to look down at her toes. All this talk about Christmas celebrations was starting to depress her.

It was silent for a moment, as they both avoided each other's gaze, and Pansy decided she couldn't take another moment of it. Listening to Ron's cheery life with his loving family and how Harry would go spend time with them was making her so completely jealous of them… and for once, she wished she could tag along. Draco was a good friend and all, but there was no way he or any of her other friends… not even her own mother, were as warm as Harry and Ron were.

"I'm going to go to bed," she announced, looking up into his eyes for a moment. "Don't stay out too long. You know how Snape likes to patrol the Gryffindor Towers most of all."

Ron nodded as he held her eyes for just a moment longer than she would have expected. "Don't worry," he assured her, turning back around and continuing his walk down the hall, the sounds of his footsteps getting softer and softer as he walked further away.

* * *

Harry woke up in the morning after a long night of tossing and turning with one thought on his mind; he needed to find Hermione and make sure she was okay after he hadn't seen her all yesterday. He tossed his covers off, and threw his curtains open… and the first thing he noticed that Ron was not in his bed. Neville, Dean and Seamus were sleeping soundly in theirs. None of them even turned over as Harry threw on his clothes and rushed out of the door, on a mission.

The first place he went was to the girls' dormitories. He didn't even care if boys weren't allowed and that the punishment was fifty house points, he was going to find her if it was the last thing he did.

Harry walked up to her dormitory door and knocked. "Hermione!" he called, and waited for some sort of answer. When he heard nothing, he knocked again. "Hermione!" he said, louder this time. "If you're in there, will you please open the door? It's Harry!"

After a few more moments of waiting, the door flew open and a very sleepy Hermione in pajamas appeared, her hair so bushy, that Harry did a double take. "What is it?" she demanded, her face deadpan.

"I was worried," Harry explained. "I didn't see you all day yesterday, and I felt so guilty that I didn't go looking for you last—"

"Harry," Hermione interrupted him. "It's four in the morning. Couldn't you have waited a few more hours to come knocking on my door and waking everyone up?"

Harry looked down at his watch, and then felt his face pale. "I'm sorry," he said. "I guess I didn't realize… I mean, I'm really sorry, Hermione."

She sighed. "It's okay," she said. "You had the best of intentions, I guess…"

She guessed? "Yeah," he said. "I did. But I'm still sorry I woke you up. When I woke up this morning and Ron was already out of bed, I figured it was much later."

Hermione paled. "Ron isn't in bed?"

Harry shook his head. "Maybe I should be looking for him instead," he pondered.

"Wait here," Hermione said, her hand on the door. "I'll change, and then I'll help you find him. Okay?"

Harry nodded just before she closed the door.

* * *

Pansy threw on one of Hermione's more stylish outfits, not that there were many to choose from in her drab wardrobe, put a spell on her hair to lessen its bushiness, and then rushed out back out of her dormitory.

"Let's go, Harry!" she said, grabbing his sleeve without slowing down and pulling him up the stairs to the Common Room.

They slowed down a little bit after exiting the Common Room and entering the hallways of Hogwarts. "You know," Harry said just when it seemed that the early morning silence of the castle was a little harsh. "Ron was acting a little strange last night."

"How so?" Pansy asked quietly. She knew that Snape didn't stop patrolling the halls until six AM on his nights.

"When I asked him if he had seen you that day, he just laughed at me and left the room. I didn't notice him come back last night if he did after that."

Pansy stared ahead at the dim hallways. Perhaps Ron's behavior was a little odd, but technically, wasn't Ron odd in general? She couldn't seem to differentiate between Ron and his oddness. "Why would he laugh?" she asked Harry, trying to gain more insight into the situation. Perhaps something was going on between the two of them that she wasn't even aware of.

"I have no idea," Harry confessed. "And to be honest, he's been acting a little weird for the past couple days."

"Yeah," she agreed, still trying to wrap her mind around everything. Now that Harry had mentioned it, Ron really had been acting more strange than usual. Instead of being his normal aloof self, he almost seemed a little… contrived… which was not something she had come to know him to be in the past week. "I should have a talk with him," she decided.

Harry looked over at her out of the corners of his eyes. "You know something about Ron that I don't know?"

"Besides the fact that he's a git? I don't think so," she smiled at him and gave him a little shove in the shoulder, causing him to smile back as he regained his steps and then bumped shoulders with her.

"You're right," Harry agreed, his eyes still sparkling as he glanced over at her. "Ron does have a horrible temper… who knows what's upset him this time?"

As they continued to walk down the halls, Pansy just kept thinking. The secrets in Hermione's group of friends just kept getting deeper and deeper. From what she gathered, Ron wasn't the type of person to not come back to his bed for the night. Something was definitely going on with him… she just wasn't sure if it was, how Harry would put it, a typical Ron-type-grudge, or something much bigger.

* * *

Ron had spent the night in the Owlery, resting on the only clean patch of straw he could find. He had tried to convince himself to get up and go back to his dormitory the entire night, but for some reason, his legs just wouldn't carry him.

He missed Hermione… and he missed Harry before Harry became obsessed with her. It was like the whole situation had placed a huge wall up between the three of them. And he couldn't even talk with Hermione if he had wanted to at the current moment.

He felt miserable and a little depressed… like everything was falling down around him and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

But wait, was it really true that he couldn't talk to Hermione? What if he approached her? What if he told her that he knew? When he really thought about it, it hurt that she hadn't told him in the first place. Didn't she trust him to keep her secret? Perhaps if he gave her another opportunity, she would reconsider.

"Ron!" he heard Harry say from behind him, and he turned his head around to see Harry and who he knew to be Pansy standing there in the doorway of the Owlery. "Have you been here all night? Are you bloody crazy, it's freezing up here!"

"Not all night," Ron lied. "This is just where I ended up."

Pansy sat down beside him on the straw and looked over into his face with an expression that he had seen several times before in the previous week. "You know, Ron," she said gently. "It's not normal to spend the night in the Owlery. People will start wondering."

"Oh, bug off," he said, frowning as he turned his head away from her. "I just needed some fresh air, that's all. And the last time I checked, it wasn't a crime."

"Some place you picked for fresh air," Pansy muttered. They were completely surrounded by smelly owls… and what came with them.

"You're just lucky Snape didn't find you sitting up here," Harry said, standing before them.

"Yeah, whatever," Ron shrugged, looking away from the two of them. "I'm fine, so you can go off and get on with your merry little lives."

"What are you talking about?" Harry demanded. "Get up, and come back to the Common Room! You're probably exhausted, and you're really lucky it's Sunday."

"Yeah, yeah," Ron went on. "I'm coming."

Pansy grabbed the sleeve of his sweater and pulled him up off of the straw. He accidentally caught her smile while he was trying to avoid eye contact with both of them. "Your warm bed is calling you, Ronald," she said, and he reluctantly followed them back towards the Gryffindor Towers.


	11. Chapter 11 It Won't Last

**Author's Note: Hey, all! I'm posting this a little bit early this week simply because I got called into work tomorrow... and I probably won't have time to post it then. I'm STILL working on chapter 14... and I'm a little stuck... so... send me a little encouragement? Please review! **

* * *

**Time for a Change  
Chapter Eleven  
By: Lori Finnegan  
2006**

Once again, Draco had spent most of his night staring up at his ceiling and contemplating his life. Not only was he not looking forward to spending his Christmas holiday at Hogwarts with his boring professors, but he was still worrying about Pansy and everything that had happened between them in the past week.

And for some reason, he couldn't get his mind off of those notes he had found in the secret room. Her explanations of the project had seemed completely reasonable, it was just how she had explained it to him that got him wondering about her true intentions.

Finally, he threw his covers off, and climbed out of bed.

Enough thinking, it was time to get some answers.

* * *

Sunday morning so far, Hermione thought as she sat alone in a quiet Slytherin Common Room, was long and drawn out. She figured it was because the time when the potion would be done was drawing nearer… and now that some of her secrets were out in the open, and Draco was becoming more suspicious, she had to be really careful to keep herself under cover. 

Time was starting to crawl.

She had just finished her Arithmancy homework when the door to the boys' dormitories opened and Draco Malfoy, still clad in his fancy silk pajamas emerged. His cold eyes were fixed right on her.

"I can't take it anymore," he said, skipping over his usual greeting as he walked over and stood in front of her.

Hermione looked up at him. "Well, good morning to you, too," she said to him, her eyes wide. "I trust you slept well?"

"I feel like you're hiding something from me," he said, and Hermione realized that he definitely wasn't in the mood for small talk.

"What could I possibly be hiding from you?" she asked as if this were a normal conversation between Pansy and Draco.

Draco folded his arms over his chest. "Well, for one thing," he said, "why are you up at six o'clock in the morning doing your homework? It's the weekend, for Merlin's sake!"

"I realize it's the weekend," Hermione admitted as she pulled her eyes away from his forceful gaze. "But I have lots of homework that's due tomorrow, and there's no time for slacking."

He continued to stare at her. "You confuse me," he said after a moment of silence and then ran his hands through his hair in frustration before sitting down on a large chair across from her. "Then again, what's new?" he muttered. "Everything confuses me!"

Hermione put her book down to consider this new side of Draco. He almost looked like a normal wizard with normal frustrations. But before she had long to contemplate him, he was sitting up straight with his eyes set back on her face.

"Will you please tell me what's going on?" he asked. "It's seriously killing me that you won't say anything about it."

"About what?" Hermione played dumb. "Honestly, Draco, it's you who's confusing me."

"I don't know," he said. "But it's obvious that something is going on that I don't know about. And I'm not kidding, Pans, I get really, really frustrated when people keep things from me."

Hermione blinked at him. Wasn't it obvious? "How about we talk about the things you're keeping from me," she suggested, trying to turn the conversation around. Besides, she couldn't even imagine the amount of secrets Draco kept inside his pointy skull.

"This isn't about me," Draco said, sticking his nose in the air. "We're talking about you, here."

"I'm just bringing up a point." Hermione pushed her book away from her lap and onto the couch to focus more on him. "If you aren't telling me everything, then how do you expect me to be completely honest with you?"

Draco stared at her with his mouth slightly open.

"It works both ways, you know," she said, and then decided to take a chance. "And don't say that you're not keeping anything from me, because I'll never buy it." Geez, she even felt more like Pansy at this point.

He folded his arms back over his chest and looked away from her. "Can't a guy keep some things personal?" he wanted to know.

"And can't a girl?" she countered. "Not everything in my life needs to be shared with you."

"Yeah," he said as he looked back at her, his eyes shining. "And I understand that. There are some things you never want to tell anyone. However, when your best friends starts acting strangely, and you know something is up, isn't it normal to want to help out?"

This time it was Hermione's turn to gape at him. He actually sounded quite decent at that moment, and she hated to admit that he was right. She hated losing debates. "I suppose so," she confessed. "But if it was something like that, don't you think you'd be the first person I'd tell?"

Draco glanced away from her. "Maybe," he muttered. "I just feel like we're drifting lately, and I don't want to lose you."

Hermione couldn't ignore his statement, as he had sounded so sincere. Instead of replying, she stood up from her spot on the couch and went to sit beside him, squeezing in besides him on the chair and draping her arm across his chest. She hadn't planned on being this close to him again in her time left as Pansy, but not only did he look miserable, but she also had to keep him from continuing to ask the hard questions. But she couldn't help but notice how warm it was next to his body.

Draco's fingers came to rest over her hand, and he looked down at her quietly.

"Just stop worrying," she told him gently. "Everything will work out in the end, you'll see." And she hoped that she wasn't lying to him. Once he had Pansy back, things would go right back to being normal for them, and he would forget about Pansy's sudden change in personality. Everything would be the same as before…

"You sound like you're leaving," Draco muttered, his voice calm.

"I am," she said, feeling his body tense slightly. "For Christmas holiday, dummy," she smiled against his silk pajama shirt. It was then that she wished she could invite him to come with her for the holidays. It was so sad that his own family was deserting him. It would only make sense for him to come home with a friend. It was just too bad that they weren't actually friends…

"Oh," he said. "Well, think of me sitting here by myself."

Hermione blinked. He obviously shared her thoughts. "I don't know what to say, Draco," she admitted. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"Tell me what's going on," he said again. "I want to know what's been bothering you lately."

Hermione couldn't answer him. Instead, she pulled up her legs and snuggled closer to his side.

"If the potion you're brewing really is Snape's extra credit assignment, then how come you have to brew it in the secret room? Wouldn't it make more sense to brew it in your dormitory? Or in the Potions lab?"

Hermione closed her eyes tightly. She shouldn't have underestimated his intelligence. "It stinks," she admitted without hesitation. While this was the truth, it wasn't the reason why they had been brewing it in the secret room. For one, it would have been fairly difficult to sneak Pansy into the Slytherin dormitories when she looked just like a Gryffindor, and secondly, if anyone caught her with the potion in her possession, she would have gotten in big trouble. "I mean literally," she elaborated. "The potion stinks like hell."

"Oh," Draco said, as if accepting her answer. "I didn't smell it when I was in there… but then again, I wasn't sure where you were keeping the potion in the room. I didn't see it."

She frowned. At least he hadn't tampered with the potion. That would be the last thing she needed.

"Couldn't you have just used a concealment charm to disguise the smell of the potion?" Draco suggested. "Snape says he uses those all the time for particularly nasty potions."

"Oh," Hermione said, giving him a nervous laugh. "Believe it or not, I didn't really think of that."

Draco snaked his arm around her waist and held her tight. "Just promise me one thing," he implored, leaning down so that his lips were very close to her forehead. "Promise that if something is really wrong, that I'll be the first person you'll come to."

Hermione didn't like to take her promises lightly, but in this case, she really didn't have a choice but to agree with him. "Of course," she said, tightening her fingers around his silk pajamas. "I promise you'll be the first person I tell." Besides, after she was back in her own body, the promise would be null and void.

Right?

Draco gave a soft sigh and then planted a quick kiss at the center of her forehead. "Great," he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

* * *

Harry and Pansy had fallen asleep in the Common Room once Harry had made sure that Ron had gotten into bed safely. He had come down the stairs, fallen on the couch next to Pansy and mumbled a few words. Shortly after, the two of them were both asleep, slouched over on the cushions. 

It wasn't until Ginny shook Pansy awake that she sat up in alarm. "What are you guys doing here?" she demanded as Harry sat up too, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Do you realize it's eleven o'clock?"

Pansy shrugged, but Harry's eyes widened so much that his green eyes nearly bulged right out of his head. He smacked himself in the forehead and his glasses slipped even further down his nose.

"The game!" he explained. "I can't believe I forgot!"

Ginny grabbed his arm and pulled him up from the couch. "Get up and get your things! If you run down there now, you'll make it just in time!"

Harry rushed up the stairs to the boys' dormitories without another word, leaving Ginny and Pansy alone in the Common Room.

"What happened?" Ginny wanted to know. "When everyone left for the game, they didn't even see you two sleeping all the way back here. I asked Lavender where you had run off to, and she said when she woke up, you were already gone. Ron didn't know where you guys were. He's already down at the field."

Pansy didn't know what to say to her. She didn't even know completely what was going through Ron's head, so she didn't know how to explain it to Ginny. "Something was up with Ron…" she started. "When Harry woke up, he wasn't in his bed… so he woke me up. We went to find him…"

"Wait, what?" Ginny asked as she sat down besides Pansy. "But he seemed just fine to me."

"I don't know," Pansy confessed. Hermione's friends were so damn nosy. "We found him in the Owlery just brooding. He's apparently upset about something, but won't say a word to Harry or me. Maybe you could talk to him."

Ginny stood up and grabbed Pansy's wrist. "Come on," she said as she pulled her up from the couch. "Go get your things. We'll meet Ron in the stands and see what he has to say."

Pansy gave her a slight smile. She wasn't even sure she wanted to know what Ron had to say. Just two more days, and she'd never have to worry about this situation again. It would be Hermione's turn to deal with it.

* * *

Ron was in the center of the Gryffindor side of the stands, looking out at the field at the players zooming around on their brooms. Five more minutes and warm ups would end. Then the captains would have a word with their players before taking the field once more for the game. 

He had gotten a few hours of sleep, and then rushed off to the field, expecting Harry to already be there, but for some reason, Harry was not doing warm ups with his other teammates… and he swore he caught several of the players giving each other nervous looks. He would have gone back to the dormitories to search for Harry, but considering the game was about to start, and it would probably take him about twenty minutes to work his way through the crowds of people and out of the stands, he decided to just wait and hope that Harry showed up.

He was staring absent absentmindedly out at the field when two figures came barging through the stands towards him and snapped him out of his daze. He turned to look their way and immediately saw Ginny's bright hair and Hermione's curls… and for a moment, he forgot she was Pansy.

But just for a moment.

"Where's Harry?" he demanded without so much as a hello as they stood besides him and caught their breaths. It was obvious that they had run all the way from the castle.

"We fell asleep on the couch in the back of the Common Room," Pansy explained as she leaned against the railing to face the two of them. "Ginny just woke us up a few minutes ago… Harry should be here soon."

"Geez," Ron said, frowning at her. "How could he sleep through Quidditch?"

"You're asking the wrong person," Pansy said, frowning right back at him. "But perhaps it was because he was up so early this morning looking for you?"

"Look," Ron said, "he was lucky enough to make the team. He should have been here early."

"It wasn't luck," he heard Ginny mumble from beside him, and he shot her a glare. "Hate to break it to you," she said.

"Whatever," Ron muttered as he tried to shove Pansy away from the railing as she was disrupting his view of the field. "Just leave me watch the game in peace."

Pansy moved to the other side of Ginny, and both girls fell silent. Several minutes later, the band started playing and the players flew out onto the field... and this time, the Gryffindor team included Harry.

* * *

Hermione leaned against the railing on the opposite side of the field from her Gryffindor classmates and stared out at the players flying by. She could see Draco with his familiar smirk on his face as he high-fived several of his teammates on his way to the highest position of their formation. She could also see Harry opposite of him. 

Madam Hooch threw the quaffle up into the sky, and the game began.

Hermione watched anxiously as the players moved into action. She was never a huge Quidditch fan, but watching Harry out there always made her nervous. He had gotten hurt pretty badly on several different occasions, so when she watched, she always sat on pins and needles, expecting the worse. And now, from the other side of the field, she couldn't help but worry about one other person as well.

"Don't look so worried," Blaise said from beside her. "Of course we're going to win the Quidditch Cup."

Hermione glanced at him, but looked away before she could betray herself. Of course Slytherin would win? How did he know, anyway? "Yeah," she muttered, not wanting to cause any sort of disagreement.

They stood there against the railings together, cheering on with the Slytherin crowds as the players flew above their heads, trying to score goals against each other.

"Go Slytherin!" Blaise screamed so loudly that Hermione had to stop herself from covering her ears. "That a way! Where's the snitch, Draco?! Find that snitch!"

"Ugh," Hermione groaned quietly. Sltherins weren't that different from Gryffindors when it came to Quidditch.

Just as she was about to look back at him to comment that there was more to life than Quidditch, one of the beaters on the Slytherin team, hit a bludger so hard, that the crack of his bat echoed around the field. The bludger whipped across the sky and hit Harry, who had been searching for the snitch on the north side of the field, directly in the shoulder. It hit him so hard, that he fell from his broom and landed on the ground beside the goal post.

Hermine gasped as she leaned forward and over the railing. She almost yelled for Harry, but stopped herself just in time. Instead, she was frozen, breathing heavily as she stared at his limp body. Once her body allowed itself to move again, she pushed a confused Blaise aside and made her way out of the stands, Slytherin Quidditch fans threatening to hex her on her way out.

Still breathing hard, she flew down the stairs and ran around the corner. And just before she was about to run out onto the field, she stopped dead in her tracks and grabbed the wooden beam next to the Slytherin stands.

"I can't do this," she said under her breath as she watched the Gryffindor teammates landing on the ground and rushing to Harry's side. "I can't do this anymore. I can't pretend to not be me."

No matter what she did, she wasn't going to be able to help Harry, so she stood there, watching him from beside the stands and tried to keep the tears from falling down her cheeks. She hoped Harry would be okay.

Madam Pomfrey rushed out onto the field with her kit of medical supplies and approached Harry. Hermione watched as the other players and professors that had also gathered cleared a path for her. She caught a quick glimpse of his face and noticed that his green eyes seemed to be slightly open. She let out a small breath and loosened her grip on the wooden beam, immediately noticing several splinters that had stuck into her palms.

Just as she was picking them out, one by one, Blaise came around the corner and put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" he wanted to know. "The way you ran off like that… I didn't know what to think. I mean, it was either you were concerned about Harry Potter, or you were suddenly worried about your Potions exam." He gave a little laugh.

Hermione jumped slightly at his laugh, and turned around to look at him, hoping he wouldn't be able to see the tears welling up in her eyes. "I was just feeling sick," she said slowly, and it wasn't a lie. "I thought I was going to throw up, and I didn't want to do it in the stands."

"Oh," Blaise said, backing off a little, probably for fear that she'd vomit on his shoes or something. "Did you?" he asked.

"No," she told him. "I think I'm feeling better now. I just needed some space to breathe."

"Oh, good," Blaise said, looking relieved. "But maybe I should take you to the hospital wing anyway. You don't want to end up sick tomorrow."

Hermione looked back at the scene out on the field, and saw that they were getting ready to take him back to the hospital wing. "Just give me a minute," she said quietly, not even turning to look back at Blaise.

"Okay…" Blaise said from behind her. "I'll just wait here till you are. Merlin knows if I leave you out here sick and alone, Draco will hex me."

* * *

Harry groaned as he was placed on a bed in the hospital wing. He didn't remember much from his fall, but he did know that he'd done a number on his legs. Both of them were throbbing so painfully, that any movement at all sent a splitting pain running right up his spine. 

It wasn't long until Madam Pomfrey was at his side with a strange bottle that he had never seen before. "The best thing to do right now is to give you this sleeping draft. I'm sorry, Mr. Potter, but you don't want to be awake for what's to come. Trust me." And before he knew it, she had propped his head up and was pushing the bottle to his lips.

* * *

Pansy trailed behind Ron and Ginny as they climbed the stairs that went straight to the hospital wing. All three of them had been watching as Harry fell to the floor of the Quidditch field, but were unable to get through the crowds in the Gryffindor stands to rush by his side. Finally, after Harry had been carried away, they broke free from the crowds and rushed behind him up to the castle. 

Ron pushed open the doors to the main area of the hospital wing, and the other two followed him in. They were greeted immediately by Professor McGonagall, who held her arms out to prevent them from passing.

"I'm sorry," she said, glancing from face to face. "I know you'd like to see Potter, but he's to have no visitors at this time. Direct orders from Madam Pomfrey."

"But Professor McGonagall," Ron started. "We have to know if he's okay. Just let us in for a moment. We promise to be quiet."

"No can do, Mr. Weasley," McGonagall said as she shook her head at him. "You'll have to come back after dinner and inquire then. Please, turn around and go back to your dormitories. I will send for you if he is doing better before dinner."

Ginny and Ron turned around with hanging heads, and Pansy turned to follow them out the door.

"Miss Granger," Pansy heard Professor McGonagall say just as she was about to walk through the door. "If you don't mind staying behind for a moment, there is something I'd like to talk to you about."

Pansy looked back at her, unsure. "Um, okay," she agreed, and shut the door behind herself.

McGonagall glanced behind herself quickly to make sure there was no one else in the room, and then turned back to Pansy. "To be honest, Miss Granger, I've been a little worried about you this past week. You don't seem as active in my class, and the other professors have been making the same comments to me. Are you feeling well? Is there something you'd care to talk about?"

Pansy took in a deep breath after it seemed like she was done talking. "I was hoping you didn't notice," she said, looking down at her feet and trying to come up with some sort of believable excuse on the spot. "The truth is, I've just been going through several personal issues, and it's hard to get my mind off of them… even during class."

"I see," McGonagall said when Pansy looked back up at her. "But what really confuses me is that your homework assignments seem right on."

"Oh," Pansy said. She hadn't thought about that. "It's just a little easier for me to concentrate when I'm on my own. Easier to block things out, you know?"

"Miss Granger, if there's anything you'd like to discuss, I'll always be willing to listen. Sometimes it helps if you just get it off your chest."

Pansy nodded. Professor McGonagall was right… but no matter how right she was, there was no way she could ever tell her about what was going on this time. "Thank you, Professor," she said, trying her best to be polite. "I'll keep that in mind in the future."

McGonagall nodded. "See you in class tomorrow," she said, and then turned to go back into Madam Pomfrey's office.

Pansy watched as the door closed until she exited the hospital wing to find Ron and Ginny waiting for her worriedly.

"Is everything okay?" Ginny wanted to know as they began their trek back to the Gryffindor Towers.

"It's fine," Pansy said. She didn't think that they'd be waiting for her, so she hadn't even given a thought as to what to say she had been talking about with McGonagall. "She just noticed that I had been a bit withdrawn lately, that's all."

This seemed to spike Ron's interest. "Oh, really?" he said, turning to look past Ginny and at Pansy. "You don't seem at all withdrawn to me, Hermione."

Pansy glanced at him quickly and then went on. "She meant in class. I guess I've just been doing more independent study lately."

"Oh," Ron said, falling back into step besides his sister. "Well, you have been overly quiet in class lately. The only reason I didn't say anything was because I figured Harry had already talked to you about it."

"Don't worry about it," Pansy assured them. "There have just been an awful lot of things going on lately. It's hard to keep my mind focused on just one thing at a time. But it'll calm down sooner or later. I promise you that."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "I'm sure it will."

"I can't wait for the Christmas holiday," Ginny muttered as they reached the Grand Staircase.

* * *

Draco came back from the game in high spirits. Even though the Slytherin team had won by default, they had still won, and that was really all that mattered. It was just another sign that they would win the Quidditch cup once again. The only thing that bothered him was that when the game call had been announced, and he had looked over at the stands, he couldn't see either Pansy or Blaise there among the crowd. He had felt a little stupid waving at Crabbe and Goyle. 

Draco and several of his teammates burst into the Slytherin Common Room with plenty of Quidditch fans behind him, and plenty of fans waiting for him on the inside. When they caught sight of each other, everyone cheered.

Draco scanned the room for Pansy, but didn't spot her anywhere… not even in the back with a book glued to her nose like he had caught her several times during the last week.

And his mood suddenly fell. Without Pansy there to celebrate with them, he wasn't so much in the celebrating mood anymore. And it was only a few minutes before he had had all of the pumpkin juice he could handle and decided to find Pansy to make sure everything was okay.

"Hey, Blaise," he said, elbowing his friend in the side. "Have you seen Pansy lately? I haven't seen her since the beginning of the game."

Blaise turned around with a drink in each hand. "Yeah, man, she was looking sick after the game. I walked her over to the hospital wing."

"Oh," Draco said. It suddenly made sense why she had disappeared so quickly. "Thanks. See you guys later." He said, and then rushed to the door and pushed it open.

* * *

"There, there, Miss Parkinson, it really isn't that bad," Madam Pomfrey said as she set a cold wash cloth on Hermione's forehead. "Many things can cause nausea, but I'm not really sure this time. It's best to just treat the symptoms in this case." She handed Hermione a small cup filled with a warm yellow liquid. "Drink this. Should have you feeling better in a few hours." 

Hermione stared down at the liquid. Instead of working on her homework she was stuck in the hospital wing just because of her lie to Blaise. Now she had to pretend to actually be sick and drink Madam Pomfrey's disgusting draft. Hermione sat up slightly, plugged her nose, and downed the draft.

It burned all the way down before settling in the pit of her stomach. Suddenly, she felt very sleepy… and the next thing she knew, her head was back on the pillow and Madam Pomfrey was covering her with a warm blanket.

* * *

Harry was just waking up when the door burst open, and Malfoy stood there with a look of determination on his face. 

"Oh," he said, looking overly disappointed. "It's just you."

"Who did you expect?" Harry asked. "Santa Clause? Did you come to bribe him because you've been such a rotten git this year? How many years in a row have you gotten coal in your stocking, Malfoy?"

"Shut up, Potter," Malfoy said, his hand going back to the door knob. "What I'm doing here is no business of yours."

"Then leave," Harry suggested, and Malfoy complied, but not without a sneer before he opened the door and hurried out, slamming it behind himself.

Harry pulled his blankets back up and turned over on his cot. Not only had he ruined the game by falling from his broom, but his legs hurt like hell, and the first face he saw when he woke up was that of Draco Malfoy's.

What luck.

* * *

After Draco had left the area that Potter was in, he continued on his search for Pansy. As luck would have it, she was in the next room that he tried… only she was sleeping soundly. He sat down on the cot besides hers and stared at her sleeping face. 

He hoped she wasn't too sick, but by the looks of things, she seemed to be doing fine. Maybe she wouldn't even have to stay overnight. Perhaps Draco could come and pick her up after dinner.

He stood up from the cot and sat down on the floor besides her bed. "I don't really understand you," he whispered. "You seem so different from the girl I used to know…"

He couldn't go on. The words were still caught in his throat. So he rested his head down besides hers and closed his eyes. He would stay with her till Madam Pomfrey returned to check on her.


	12. Chapter 12 Unexpected

**Author's Note: Okay, okay, I know that it's a day late, but it was absolutely crazy for me this weekend. I barely came online, even. Still about halfway through chapter 14... it's getting hard to write with the math class that I'm currently taking (DAMN MATH) but I can hopefully get my butt in gear and have it posted in 2 weeks! Thanks again for all of your awesome reviews! You have NO idea how great it is to read them. I love you all!**

* * *

**Time for a Change  
Chapter Twelve   
By: Lori Finnegan   
2007**

After dinner, Pansy, Ginny and Ron walked up the stairs to the hospital wing and knocked on the door to Madam Pomfrey's office. When she opened the door, Ron leaned past Pansy so that he could see her clearly.

"Excuse us, Madam Pomfrey, but we're wondering if Harry is able to have visitors yet," he wondered.

"Oh, yes," she replied as she pushed her way past the three of them and led them across the hallway. "He's basically healed up, but still quite sore. He'll have to stay the night, I'm afraid."

"I'm just glad he's okay," Pansy said, and Ron gave her a funny look. She was getting pretty good at playing Hermione, he thought.

Madam Pomfrey pushed open the door to reveal Harry sitting up in the cot nearest to the door. He smiled when he saw his friends standing in the doorway.

"Harry!" Ginny exclaimed, rushing over to his side and sitting down at the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," Harry replied as Pansy sat down on the other side of his legs, and Ron stood at the foot of the bed. He heard the door click shut, signaling Madam Pomfrey's exit and then looked back at Harry.

"That was a close one, mate," he said and put his hands in the pockets of his trousers. "We were a bit worried there for a second."

Harry nodded. "So was I. I'm just mad that I ruined the game for everyone."

"Don't worry about it, Harry," Pansy assured him. "There'll be other games. And you're hardly behind. It was only the first game of the year, after all."

Harry sighed, and Ginny looked down at her hands. Ron looked over at Pansy and narrowed his eyes at her. Didn't she understand Quidditch at all? Or perhaps she was rooting for her home team. Ron took his hands out of his pockets to fold his arms over his chest.

"You would say that," he decided to say. "You've never appreciated the art of Quidditch." And it was true. The real Hermione truly didn't understand Quidditch.

Pansy turned to look at him. "We didn't come here to fight," she told Ron. "We're supposed to be visiting with Harry and giving him his things."

"My things?" Harry said, curious.

"Oh," Ron said as he bent over to pick up a backpack at his feet. "I just packed some things to keep you occupied tonight. I know how boring it is sitting here all night."

Harry took the bag from Ron and tucked it under his arms. "Thanks, Ron," he said. "I've already been bored out of my mind, and I've only been awake for about an hour. My only company has been Madam Pomfrey… oh, and Malfoy. He burst in here acting completely obnoxious, as usual."

"Weird that he'd be looking for you," Ginny pointed out.

"He wasn't," Harry said. "I asked him, and he said it wasn't any of my business." He rolled his eyes for his friends. "As if I care what he does in his free time. As long as he does it far away from me, I couldn't care less."

"That prat," Ron muttered as he sat down on the edge of the cot opposite from Harry. "He's probably up to something."

"He's always up to something," Ginny chimed in. "But let's just hope it doesn't have anything to do with us."

"You don't think he had something to do with that bludger hitting you, do you, Harry?" Ron wanted to know.

"Of course not!" Pansy said, standing up from the bed to look at Ron straight on. "You know as well as I know that it's against the rules to tamper with any of the Quidditch equipment."

"That hasn't stopped people from doing it before," Harry commented.

"Why, Hermione," Ron said, sending Pansy a slight smile. "You almost sound like you're sticking up for Malfoy. How could that be?"

"I'm just stating the facts," Pansy said, shooting him a glare.

"Yeah, really," Ginny said. "Lay off, Ron, as if she'd stick up for Malfoy."

Pansy stuck her nose up at Ron. "Seriously, Ron."

Soon after, Ron gave up trying to get Pansy to admit anything, as Madam Pomfrey had burst into the room complaining about the noise and ordered the three of them to return to their dormitories so that Harry could get the rest he needed. Sighing, they walked out to the hallways in silence, just hoping for an end to the day.

* * *

It had been just fifteen minutes since Madam Pomfrey had given Hermione a clear bill of health, and she was already on her way back to the Slytherin dormitories. Because of her hospital wing stint, she had missed several hours of precious homework time, and she was determined to catch up by the end of the night.

She didn't even care who saw her enter when she pushed open the doors to the Common Room and passed by all of the Slytherin students who were chatting excitedly about the game. No doubt they were nothing but pleased that Harry had fallen off of his broom during the game. And that thought made her want to speak with them even less than she had before.

"Wait, Pansy," she heard Draco say just as she reached the hallway that led to the girls dormitories. She tried to ignore him, but she didn't get far before she felt his hand grasping her elbow.

"What is it?" she asked, only turning her head partly in his direction. She didn't want to give him the impression that she was up for a chat.

"I was worried about you," Draco said, his silver eyes glistening in the candle light. "You disappeared during the game… and Blaise said you were in the hospital wing because you felt sick or something." He looked at her for a moment, as if hoping she would pick up and start explaining what had happened. "Are you okay?"

"Of course, I'm fine," she told him, as if being in the hospital wing were no big deal. "It was just a touch of the stomach flu, that's all. Madam Pomfrey cured me with a draft. Nothing to worry about."

Draco looked at her for longer than she would consider a moment, and then dropped her elbow. "Well, I'm glad you're feeling better," he said. "Do you want to stay up with us? We're celebrating a win."

Hermione had to stop herself from scoffing. A win? An injury to the other team was hardly a win. It was more like a forfeit. "No thanks," she said, holding her feelings about the subject matter inside. "I have a lot of homework to do. So if you'd please excuse me…" she trailed off, turning around and walking down the hallway again. She half expected him to stop her, but he didn't. And before long, she was safe inside of Pansy's room.

For now.

* * *

Harry sighed heavily from his hospital cot as he watched the night sky through the large window on the other side of his room. His legs were feeling better than before, but they still ached quite a bit. Madam Pomfrey had forbid him to get out of bed until morning, save for using the restroom, until she had a chance to check on him.

But he was so bored, having to sit there in the silence for so long, that he almost wanted to get up and move around a bit just to keep himself busy.

Then, he remembered that Ron had given him a backpack filled with his things earlier that day, and he reached down besides his cot to retrieve it. Hurriedly, he unzipped it, and reached his hand inside. The first thing he pulled out was the Quidditch Magazine that he had already read twice. He let it fall back to the floor and then reached in again. This time, he pulled out an old piece of parchment he was very much familiar with; the Marauder's Map.

He'd spent a lot of time looking at the Map and spying on people around the castle, but this had been the first time he'd given it a look since fifth year. He set it down on his right side, and then reached back into the bag. The next thing he pulled out was an old Quidditch book that looked like it had been Mr. Weasley's when Mr. Weasley had been in school.

Harry stuck it back inside and put the bag on the floor. It looked like the most interesting thing that Ron had brought was the Map, after all. He reached for his wand on the small table besides his bed and pointed it at the folds in the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said, and suddenly, the map became covered in words. Harry opened it up and rested it on his lap.

He saw his own name in the hospital wing, and Madam Pomfrey's in her private quarters. He also saw the names of two Hufflepuff students in the hallway that led to the Grand Staircase, and they were moving along as though they were in a hurry. Harry soon saw why. Professor Snape's name was just around the corner. He smiled slightly as he looked around the map.

He was a little curious as to whether Ron, Hermione and Ginny had gotten into their beds at a decent hour, but before he could look at the area that showed the Gryffindor Towers, a name out of place caught his eye. He leaned forward to look more closely at the Slytherin Dungeons, and wondered if it could be a mistake. What in the world was Hermione doing down in the dungeons at this hour!?

* * *

Hermione pulled the potion out from underneath the couch and peered into the warm, bubbling liquid. It stunk so badly, that she almost gagged before she could pinch her nose with her fingers. She wasn't sure what the potion was supposed to look like, but it hadn't disintegrated, so that was at least good news.

Tomorrow night, at ten o'clock, she and Pansy would be drinking it. It was honestly not something she was looking forward to tasting, but she was most definitely looking forward to having this whole ordeal over with.

With a sigh, she pushed the potion back underneath the couch and then lifted her backpack up on top of it. She sat down next to her things and pulled out her books. She had found that the secret room was without a doubt the quietest place to get her homework done… even if the stench of the potion was looming in the air.

* * *

Harry grabbed onto the crutches that Madam Pomfrey had left by his bed just in case he had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, and hoisted himself up onto them. His legs were still sore and moved slowly, but were feeling better all the time. He was sure he would be able to somehow get from the hospital wing to the Slytherin dungeons. He just had to make sure that Hermione was okay.

What if someone was keeping her there against her will? Someone like Malfoy. Perhaps that was what he was doing in the hospital wing earlier that day. He was probably trying to make sure Harry was incapacitated before he followed through with his evil plan.

With this thought in mind folded the map back up, put it into his pocket and limped all the way down the grand staircase, ignoring the aching pain that shot up his spine. After all, he had to get to Hermione before something truly bad happened.

The hallways of the dungeon were much darker than the rest of the castle. They lacked the moonlight shining through the windows, and with both hands on his crutches, Harry didn't have an extra hand to light his wand. And since he couldn't carry his map either, he had memorized the area in which he had seen Hermione's name and hoped she would stay put.

When he reached the room, he took one hand from his crutches and reached for the doorknob, suddenly freezing. What if there were other people in there with her that hadn't been there when he had been viewing the map? He was hardly in the condition to put up a fight.

But this was Hermione in there, and he had to do everything he could to protect her. Taking a deep breath, he turned the doorknob and pushed, watching as the dust swept up from the floor, shining against the slight candle light that crept in from behind him. It was hard to see anything at all in the room.

Quickly, he grabbed his wand from his pocket and whispered, "Lumos!" as he pointed it into the room.

The room instantly lit up, the shadows dancing around him, but Hermione, nor anyone else, was in the room. Harry looked around a bit more before deciding that he was truly alone and then turned around to exit the room.

"Excuse me, Mr. Potter, what exactly is it that you think you're doing down here so late at night? Even the Slytherin students are not allowed to roam the dungeons after ten."

Harry jumped at the sound of Snape's voice, and nearly lost his balance on his crutches.

"Do you have a death sentence?" Snape wanted to know as he watched Harry clutch his crutches.

Harry's mind ran over excuses so quickly that he forgot most of them by the time he had finished thinking. "I lost my Potion book," he spat out before he had a chance to reconsider his response.

"I see," Snape replied. "You were missing your Potion text. So, being the studious, straight A student that you are, you decided to escape the hospital wing and come roaming the castle late at night looking for it so that you could study all through the night."

Harry just stared at him.

"Get back to your hospital bed, Potter," Snape growled, stepping aside from the doorway so that Harry could pass. "And I expect you to know every single answer during my class tomorrow or I'm taking an additional fifty points away from Gryffindor."

"Additional!?" was all that Harry could get out.

"That's right. It's a standard fifty point loss for being out of bed after hours. You should know that better than anyone."

"Yeah, yeah," Harry grumbled, limping past Professor Snape and going back up the dungeon hallway.

"I have eyes in the back of my head, Potter," Harry heard him say as he hobbled along. "And if you go anywhere other than the hospital wing, you shall be sorry."

Harry narrowed his eyes at the stairs in front of him. At least Snape hadn't found the Map.

* * *

Pansy was having trouble falling asleep that night. No matter how hard she tried to clear her mind, she just couldn't stop thinking about tomorrow night when she and Hermione were to drink the potion that they'd been brewing for a week and a half. She was nervous about the results, but excited at the same time. Hopefully, by this time tomorrow night, she would be back in her own body for good.

Giving up on sleeping at that moment, Pansy sat up in her bed and reached for her nightstand to put a ponytail holder around Hermione's massive head of hair. She could no longer stand it being in her face, and just had to do something about it.

After her hair was securely tied into a ponytail, she stood up from the bed and walked to the exit of her dormitory. The dark room filled with sleeping girls was getting boring, and she wanted to go out. The problem was, it was almost impossible to escape from the Gryffindors, as she well knew by now. But now that she was a little used to being among them, she would even settle for a chat with anyone who happened to be sitting in the Common Room.

When she arrived and noticed that Ron was the only person still up, she felt like turning around and going back up to the dormitories. But it was too late; he had already seen her. She looked away at first, but then looked back when she saw the expression on his face. It was one of obvious worry. Figuring that there was nothing else she could do as Hermione, she walked over to him and sat next to him on the couch he was sitting on.

"Why are you still up?" she asked as they both stared down at their feet.

"I could ask you the same question," Ron muttered.

Pansy glanced up at him and then back down at her feet. "Fine then," she said. "What's got you in such a pissy mood lately?"

"None of your business," he replied.

"Since when?" she wanted to know. "Aren't we supposed to be friends?"

Ron looked away from her and didn't say anything. Pansy wondered briefly if she had ruined Hermione's friendship with Ron, but then figured it didn't matter. She wouldn't have to deal with it come Monday night anyway. She decided to be a little bit more of herself tonight.

"Seriously, Ron," she said, moving slightly closer to him. "Something has really been bothering you lately. And to be honest, it's really beginning to piss me off. So here's the deal. You either tell me what it is that's bothering you, or I'm going to tell Harry that you told me his little secret… whatever that is."

He turned his head slightly to look at her. "You know," he said, "You're incredibly annoying for a girl."

"And so I am," she smiled, draping her arm around his shoulders. "But you're gonna tell me, right?"

Ron shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Aw, come on, Ron. What is there that you couldn't tell me?"

Ron was quiet for a moment, and Pansy stared at him, waiting for him to say something. The wheels seemed to be turning awfully fast in his head. "I'm just worried, that's all," he finally said, but stopped there.

"And…?" she prompted. "What exactly is it that you're worried about?"

"I'm worried about my friends," he said right away. "About Harry… and Hermione."

Pansy stared at him. For a moment she wondered why he was speaking about Hermione as if she wasn't right in front of him. "Okay," she said, pushing the thought aside. "Why are you worried about us?"

"No," Ron shook his head, glancing up at her briefly. "I'm not worried about you, I'm worried about Hermione."

Now Pansy knew that he definitely hadn't made a mistake in his sentence earlier. "Excuse me?" she muttered, being it was the only thing she was able to spit out.

"You heard me, Pansy," he said, looking bored with the conversation. "I know you're not Hermione. I've known for several days. Lucky for you, I haven't told anyone, or you and Hermione would be in big trouble."

Pansy was having trouble breathing much less moving, and she kept her arm around his shoulders. "What… how did you…?" she stammered.

"I've been trying to crack you for days," Ron went on. "But you're surprisingly good at staying in character."

The blood finally started running through Pansy's veins, and she removed her arm from his shoulder. "You're not going to… tell anyone, are you?"

"That depends," Ron said, watching as she scooted a little ways away from him. "When are we getting the real Hermione back?"

Pansy looked away from him, almost ashamed that she had been caught. "Hopefully, tomorrow night," she admitted. "If all goes well."

"Good," Ron said. "Things have been absolutely crazy lately, and I think it would be nice to have Hermione back to settle things out."

"Yeah," Pansy agreed with a sigh. It was apparent how much he liked Hermione and how much he despised her.

"Not that you didn't do well," Ron added in, apparently sensing her discomfort with their conversation. "Harry was a little suspicious of you, but he never figured it out. No one else did either. You should win some sort of acting award or something."

Pansy wasn't sure if he was trying to compliment her or not. "Thanks," she said anyway. "Well, it'll all be over tomorrow night. And please," she said, looking back at him, directly into his eyes. "Please don't say anything to Harry. We didn't want anyone to know. So let's just pretend this whole thing never happened… and then tomorrow, we can all go on with our lives as if none of this ever happened."

Ron looked back at her and then stuck out his hand. "Deal?"

Pansy took his hand in hers and gave it a quick shake. "Deal," she confirmed.

* * *

Early the next morning, Hermione woke up to the pages of a text book. She had fallen asleep with her nose actually buried in the book this time and when she jerked awake and the book had fallen to the floor, she realized that she had fallen asleep studying in the secret room.

After she checked her watch and realized that she had about twenty minutes before class started, she quickly threw her things into her backpack, blew out the lanterns and rushed out of the room. If she was going to eat anything before lunch, she had better get down to the Great Hall for breakfast quickly.

* * *

Draco stuck his fork into his eggs and then lifted them to his mouth. He had been a little grumpy all morning after Pansy had turned him down the night before, and what made matters worse was that when everyone was leaving for breakfast, she wasn't anywhere to be found.

He was chewing on his eggs when he noticed Blaise staring at him from the other side of the table. "What are you looking at?" he said after he had swallowed. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Just that scowl you've been wearing since last night," Blaise replied.

Draco scoffed and looked back down at his breakfast. "Don't concern yourself," he said, and it was then that he felt someone take a seat besides him. He looked up to see Pansy herself sitting there and picking up a piece of toast from a platter at the center of the table.

"And just where have you been?" he asked her as he folded his arms over his chest. "I waited for you in the common room for twenty minutes!"

Pansy took a bite of toast and shrugged at him. "I'm sorry, Draco," she said, her mouth full. "I guess I slept in. I was up pretty late studying."

Draco looked back down at his food. Yeah, while she was studying, he was lying awake in bed thinking about her, yet he was still able to wake up on time for breakfast. "Sure," he said, his feelings still stinging. "Well, I'm glad you made it."

It was quiet for a moment, and the other Slytherins must have felt the tension radiating from Draco, because they all excused themselves from the area he was sitting, and went to their classes… including Crabbe and Goyle who usually stayed for thirds at almost every meal.

Draco could see Pansy looking at him from the corner of his eye, and he set down his fork, no longer hungry. He felt completely rejected, and that was a feeling he hadn't ever felt before. For the first time, he didn't feel comfortable under her gaze.

"Is something wrong, Draco?" she wanted to know, breaking the silence. "You seem so quiet all of a sudden."

"Nothing's wrong," he snapped as he looked over at her briefly and then went back to his plate. "Can't I be thoughtful once in a while?"

"You?" she laughed, but then seemed to realize that he didn't think it was funny. "I guess everyone has that right…" she surmised.

Draco didn't say anything. He just continued to stare at his food. How could he let her get to him like this? He should have been studying for his Herbology test, but instead, thoughts of Pansy invaded his mind and prevented him from accomplishing anything… not even sleep. But then again, he was getting used to being tired all of the time.

As much as he wanted to be with her, at that moment, all he wanted to do was get out of her sight. He felt so completely exposed, and he was completely sure that it wasn't an feeling he ever wanted to have again.

"I'm going to get to class, Pans," he mumbled, pushing his plate slightly towards the center of the table and picking up his backpack from the floor. "Talk to you later."

He didn't give her the opportunity to reply. The next moment, he was outside the Great Hall and swiftly walking down the castle's halls, trying to put as much distance between himself and Pansy as possible. Before he had the nerve to confront her with anything, he had to make sure that he knew exactly what he wanted, and had worked out a foolproof plan to obtain that want.

* * *

Classes went horribly slow for Pansy that day. She was so nervous and excited for that night that every word that came out of Professor Sprout's mouth seemed to be in slow motion. At least after Herbology she only had Care of Magical Creatures left, and as horrible as she thought Hagrid was with his stupid beasts, the period usually seemed to breeze by.

She couldn't wait to sit down with her homework that night, race through it and then make her way to the secret room so that they could finally end the horrible nightmare that they'd been living in for the past week and a half.

Well, okay… so it wasn't all that horrible. Some parts hadn't been all that bad. But even so, she couldn't wait to go back to being a Slytherin.

"Psst," Ron hissed, poking her arm with his elbow. "Did you get that last bit?"

She blinked back at him and shrugged. "Sorry," she said, giving him a knowing smile. After all, she wasn't the meticulous note taker that Hermione was. "I guess I sorta faded out there."

Ron frowned at her, but she could tell by his eyes that he didn't really mean it. "Never mind," he whispered back. "I'm sure this stuff isn't all that important." He poked the plant in front of him only to hear it growl back. Quickly, he jerked his hand away. "Geez!"

Pansy stifled a giggle. It was then that she realized that she should probably give Ron a few more details about their plans to switch back tonight… or when Hermione was actually Hermione again, she would definitely figure out that he had known. Slowly, she leaned her head closer to his. "Hey, Ron," she whispered. "We've gotta talk later. Meet me outside the Great Hall before dinner."

Ron gave her an odd look, but nodded anyway.

She looked out at the plants and gave a small sigh. This would all work out… it had to.

* * *

Hermione let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding as Hagrid announced that their last class of the day was over. She picked her things up from the cold ground and began to make her way back towards the castle, but before she could get very far, someone had a hold of her arm, and she jerked around to see who was preventing her from going on.

Of course, it was Draco.

"Pans, wait," he said. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

She looked at him as if he were crazy. "Out here?" she wanted to know. "Draco, It's cold! We've already spent an hour outside, and I'm not sure—"

But before she could finish, he pulled her against his chest and snaked his fingers into her hair. She had one second to take in a shocked breath before he leaned down and pressed his lips firmly against hers.

Hermione pushed against his chest until he let her free. "You call that talking!?" she exclaimed as she tried to catch her breath. "What is going on with you?"

Draco grabbed her robes and pulled her back to himself. "You must know by now," he said. "Isn't it completely obvious?"

As Hermione looked into his gray eyes, she didn't have a doubt in her mind what he was talking about, but she didn't want to say it out loud. Some weird romance with Draco Malfoy while she was in Pansy's body was not something she thought was a very good idea.

So she gave him a sly smile. "Is this some sort of a joke?" she asked coyly. "Do you want something from me? Are you're trying to make me agreeable by using your charm?" She didn't wait for him to reply. "Because you know, Draco Malfoy, you are the most charming boy here at Hogwarts."

Draco's face turned slightly pink, and he just stared at her.

Hermione went on, "Or are you just trying to boost my popularity status?" She looked over at the students who were still standing in the classroom area staring at them. "Everyone's watching, you know."

"Um," Draco said, and Hermione smiled at her victory. It wasn't often that Draco Malfoy was rendered speechless.

She grabbed a hold of his tie and raised her chin so that their faces were even. "Dare you to do that again."

But instead of kissing her, he broke away from her hold and grabbed her arm once again. This time, he didn't pull her close, he pulled her back up the hill and towards the castle. Hermione figured that he didn't appreciate her show of mocking his feelings.

When they were besides the castle and alone, he let go of her arm and turned to face her. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded, his cheeks still red. "I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you!"

Hermione pretended to be surprised at this revelation. "I'm sorry, Draco," she said. "I thought we were just messing around."

Draco looked down at her as if he really wanted to say something, but couldn't decide upon the words. "It's okay," he finally said, looking away from her and then running his fingers through his hair. "Never mind. I'll talk to you after dinner, okay?"

Hermione nodded at him, feeling slightly bad for pushing his feelings away. "Yeah," she said. "Sure."

They stood there for a moment avoiding eye contact. Finally, Hermione broke the silence.

"I'm going to work on my homework for awhile. See you at dinner." And she turned around quickly and rushed towards the doors as quickly as she could without seeming as though she was trying to escape from his presence.


	13. Chapter 13 Bottoms Up

**Author's Note: Well, here's chapter 13! We're getting towards the big change, guys... And just so you know, there's more story after that happens, too... I just have to work on writing it... lol. I actually finished Chapter 14 this week, so I have one more chapter to post next Sunday. Meanwhile, I'll try my best to get chapter 15 ready for you the following Sunday... though I can't guarantee it! Hope everyone likes this chapter, and please review! Love, as always!  
**

* * *

**  
Time for a Change  
Chapter 13  
By: Lori Finnegan  
2007**

Inside of the Great Hall, Pansy let Harry pass and then grabbed Ron's arm before he could make his way to the table. She dragged him outside of the Great hall and pulled him into a nearby alcove.

"What's the deal?" he demanded, shaking his arm away from her grasp.

"Remember when we talked yesterday?" she said to him in a rushed voice. "Well, it's all happening tonight. Hermione and I are going to drink a reversal potion that we made. So, just so you know, hopefully when you see Hermione tomorrow morning, she'll be back to normal."

Ron smiled at her, but it faded quickly. "And just what happens if the potion doesn't work?"

"Oh, please, Ron," she said, giving him a slap on his chest with the back of her hand. "Hermione made the potion herself. Do you honestly think that anything could go wrong?"

Ron let out a breath. "Good point there."

Pansy grabbed his sleeve and pulled him out of the alcove. "I thought you should know about it, that's all," she told him and the two of them went back into the Great Hall.

"So," Ron said over the crowd. "I guess I'll be… seeing you around?"

Pansy hesitated before nodding at him. This would be her last meal at the Gryffindor table.

* * *

Hermione, who had avoided the Great Hall all together, had decided to go hungry in order to avoid meeting Draco after dinner. By the end of tonight, she would be back to being Hermione and wouldn't have to worry about Draco Malfoy anymore. Besides, she figured she had messed up Pansy's love life enough already. She wasn't going to tell Pansy about Draco's… growing feelings, but after the fiasco after Care of Magical Creatures, she didn't feel like she had a choice anymore; Pansy had to know.

And to be absolutely sure that she wouldn't run into him, Hermione packed up her homework and traveled onto their secret room. After two hours, she had completely finished her Arithmancy assignment and was starting on a Transfiguration essay when the door burst open and a fuming Draco appeared before her.

"I knew I'd find you here," he said, slamming the door behind himself. "What makes you think that you can just run around this place avoiding me?"

Almost without realizing it, Hermione pushed the potion back a little further under the couch with the heel of her shoe. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to him, but she would have to think of something and fast; his face was turning a weird shade of pink.

"Is it okay if I do my homework?" was what came out of her mouth.

Draco didn't seem happy with that answer. She could tell by the way he stomped over to her, his shoes clacking against the hard ground. "Excuse me?" he demanded. "I thought we had agreed to meet after dinner… or maybe I misunderstood. I didn't realize that part of your plan was to completely skip dinner and then avoid me all together."

Hermione closed her book and pushed it off her lap. "Look, Draco," she said. "I wasn't feeling well, and I had a lot of homework to do. I just needed some quiet time alone. Is that okay with you?"

Draco didn't say anything, he only stared at her. She could tell that he was using the anger to cover his feelings, and she felt horrible about it. But what could she really do?

They stared at each other for another moment before Hermione stood up from her seat on the couch and put her arms around his waist, pulling him in for a tight hug. She had never seen someone who needed a hug more than Draco at that moment.

He relaxed against her.

"I'm sorry," she said, pressing her face to his sweater. "Can we talk later, though?"

He pulled away and looked down at her with his cold eyes. "I guess," he relented.

She smiled up at him weakly, still feeling horrible for pushing him away. It wasn't every day that anyone saw any true feelings surface from Draco Malfoy. "I just need some time to think," she added. "Talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

He nodded, and then swept out the door just as quickly as he had come in, only this time, he didn't slam the door on his way.

Hermione fell back onto the couch and took a deep breath. She hadn't been expecting him to find her before they could drink the potion… but fortunately, he would leave her alone for the rest of the night, giving her and Pansy the chance to drink the potion in private.

* * *

At exactly ten o'clock that night, Pansy flew into the secret room and threw Hermione's backpack on the ground. "I made it," she said, breathing hard as she looked over at Hermione. "It was rather hard to get away from your friends," she sighed and then sat besides Hermione on the couch. "It seems like everyone was up for a chat tonight."

It didn't take long before Pansy realized that Hermione wasn't listening to a word she was saying. She poked her in the shoulder. "Hey, something the matter?"

Hermione finally looked over at her. "Before we drink the potion, there's something we need to talk about."

Pansy noticed her face was flushed, and she crinkled her nose in reaction. She couldn't wait to hear this. "What is it?"

Hermione shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "It's just Draco…"

"What about him?"

"Well…" she said, turning her eyes away from Pansy's. "He's got a little thing for you."

Pansy almost laughed. "Oh, please!" she exclaimed. "I already knew that. He's completely obvious."

Hermione looked back at her. "Are you sure? Because whatever was going on in him seemed a little… new."

"Of course it was new for you," Pansy said. "To be honest I should have warned you about him, but I knew that he wouldn't ever actually admit to himself that he liked someone more than himself, so I didn't think it would be a problem. That boy is so full of himself…"

"See, that's just the thing," Hermione interrupted. "I don't think he's planning on keeping it in anymore. I'm just telling you this as a warning. I think he's going to be… a little different than how you remember him acting around you."

Pansy looked over at Hermione from the side of her eye. Was she serious? Had something actually happened between them? "Whatever," she decided. "I'll deal with Draco when the time comes. Don't worry about it."

"Okay, good," Hermione concluded and then bent over to pull out the potion from underneath the couch. "Before we start though… is there anything different going on between the Gryffindors that I should be aware of?"

Pansy thought about it for a moment. "No, things are pretty much the same," she lied. There was no point in telling her about something that was over and done with.

Hermione smiled at her and then pulled out two glass mugs from her backpack. "I came prepared," she announced.

Pansy rolled her eyes. When was Hermione ever not prepared? "Great," she said, taking the bowl from Hermione and then waiting while she pulled out a large spoon from her backpack.

Hermione spooned up enough of the gloppy mixture to fill one mug, and then handed it to Pansy. Taking a deep breath, she filled the second glass, put the spoon back into the bowl and let Pansy move the bowl to the floor.

The two girls sat in silence, staring into their mugs.

"Did you ever come across anything that mentioned… side effects?" Pansy asked. "Should we be prepared?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, I didn't," she replied. "Though, I'm not completely convinced I've read all of the literature about the potion. I don't think the Hogwarts library is adequately stocked on the matter."

Pansy gulped, once again looking into her glass. As much as she wanted to go back to being herself, the thought of drinking the potion that Snape hadn't supervised made her a tad nervous. Then again, Hermione was the top student in Potions, not to mention the rest of her classes. "Well, bottoms up?" she suggested.

Hermione raised her glass and clinked it to the side of Pansy's. "Bottoms up," she repeated, and then tilted the glass to her mouth.

Pansy followed suit, but paused when she felt the warm liquid reach her lips. The taste was horrible! She reached up with her other hand and plugged her nose before gulping down the rest of the potion. When she had finished, she turned to look at Hermione, who had the same look of disgust on her face.

The problem was, she was still looking at her own face. They hadn't switched places.

Hermione took the mug from Pansy and got up to set them on the table. "It's okay," she said, taking note of Pansy's distress. "It's probably not an immediate effect. Not all potions are work as quickly as the simple ones we do in class."

Pansy let out a breath and leaned back against the couch. "Well, I hope it happens soon," she said. "I'm exhausted, and I want to sleep in my own bed for a change."

"Me, too," Hermione concurred. "I almost miss listening to Lavender and Parvati chatting as I fall asleep. You'd be surprised."

Pansy gasped. "I certainly am surprised! I can barely stand those two!"

Hermione laughed, and then it fell silent as they looked at each other, waiting to change back at any second.

Nothing happened.

"Let's just go to bed," Pansy suggested. "Maybe it takes a little bit longer."

"Probably," Hermione agreed. "We'll meet tomorrow as usual after breakfast if nothing has happened and decide where to go from there."

Pansy nodded and then stood up. "Hey, Hermione?" she asked as she picked up her backpack and then looked over at the other girl.

"Yes?" Hermione was busy packing up the glasses and pushing the potion back underneath the couch.

"How long do most complicated potions take to work?"

Hermione stood up straight and looked at her. "Anywhere from an hour to twelve hours for this type of potion, I'd say… but it's really hard to know for sure. I wish we had more information on it."

Pansy took a deep breath and lifted her backpack over her shoulder. "See you tomorrow morning," she said on her way out the door. "And cross your fingers."

* * *

Hermione clutched her pillows tightly to her chest as she took a deep breath in, realizing that she was awake. Everything suddenly flooded back into her memory; the potion, saying goodbye to Pansy and hoping that when they woke up in the morning, everything would finally be back to normal.

She didn't want to open here eyes, afraid that she would still be in Pansy's body and still stuck in this nightmare.

But when she did open her eyes, she noticed that she was still surrounded by Pansy's belongings, and still sleeping within Pansy's bed and in Pansy's room. She let out a sad sigh, relaxing against the bed as the hope faded.

After a moment of thought, she rolled out of bed and walked carefully over to the mirror. She had to make sure it was indeed Pansy's face that was looking back at her before she jumped to conclusions.

There would be no jumping. As Hermione stared at Pansy's face as her reflection, she knew for sure that the potion had not yet worked.

* * *

Pansy flew down the staircase that led from the girls' dormitories and pushed open the door to the Common Room. Her plan was to get out of there as quickly as possibly, make a break for the Slytherin dungeons, find Hermione and demand answers.

But she didn't get that far. Before she knew it, Ron had his arms around her and was holding her in the tightest hug she had ever experienced. After the shock had worn off, she took hold of his shoulders and roughly shoved him away.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" she demanded as she looked up at his surprised face.

"Oh," he said, his face falling. "I take it that your plan was unsuccessful." It wasn't a question.

Pansy let go of his shoulders and walked around him. "Don't look so disappointed, Ron," she said as she looked around the room to make sure they were alone. "Hermione says that some potions take up to twelve hours to work. I'm still confident that we'll change back"

"Oh," Ron said again, turning to face her. "Well, you better... do something."

Pansy twirled around to meet his gaze. "Do what?" she wanted to know. "There's nothing we can do but wait. Besides, I'm going to find Hermione now," she said as she walked towards the portrait hole. "See you later, then," Ron replied.

"Oh," she said, spinning around again to smile at him. "Thanks for the hug." And she quickly exited the room with just enough time to see his face light up in red freckles.

Taking a quick moment to grin to herself at his embarrassment, she quickly sobered and then rushed down the hallway, onto her mission of finding Hermione. By the time she reached the Slytherin dungeons, she was so worried that the potion wasn't going to work that she didn't even care who saw a Gryffindor down where she didn't belong. She just had to find Hermione so that her mind could be set at ease, and she could go to breakfast, confident in their still moving plan.

She shoved past several confused Slytherin girls who were standing in the near the entrance to the Common Room, said the password loud enough for everyone in the area to hear, and then pushed through the dungeon door.

She wasn't even remotely surprised to see Draco Malfoy stand up just after she had burst inside. The book from his lap fell to the ground, its pages crumpling against the floor, and he took a step forward.

"Excuse me?" he said, his voice loud. "Just what do you think you're doing in here, mudblood?"

Pansy didn't stop walking towards her destination. She looked at Draco right in his eyes as she approached him. "Move aside, Malfoy," she spat at him as she pushed him so hard that he fell back against the chair he had gotten up from. She didn't even pause to look at what she assumed would be his shocked expression, and she stomped her way back into the girls' dormitories.

When she reached her own door, she didn't knock. She just twisted the handle and went on in. She found Hermione pulling up the covers to the bed, but once she saw Pansy standing there, she dropped them quickly, and then ran behind her to lock the door.

"Who saw you?" she demanded. "And what are you doing in here?!"

"In case you haven't noticed," Pansy said, turning around to face her. "I'm still in your body!"

"Shh!" Hermione hushed, pushing her further back into the room. "And don't you think I've already realized that? You're going to ruin everything by coming in here! I hope no one saw you!"

"Relax," she said, rolling her eyes and shaking Hermione's hands away from her arms. "It was only Draco."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Only, Draco?!" she demanded. "Pansy, you have got to hold it together! In just a few more hours—"

"In just a few more hours, what, Hermione?" Pansy wanted to know. "We'll still be in each other's bodies? What in the hell are we supposed to do? Let's just face it! The potion did not work!"

"Shh!" Hermione hissed.

Just then, there was a loud pounding at the door. "Open up, Pansy. The Common Room's been raided by a Gryffindor mudblood," they heard Draco's voice say.

They both froze, staring at each other.

"I'm… I'm not decent!" Hermione said after a slight pause. "I'll be out in a moment!" She turned to Pansy and hissed, "Just great! Now what? How are you supposed to get out of here?"

Pansy shrugged. She honestly had no idea… but she wasn't about to be caught.

"Hide in here," Hermione suggested in a whisper as she gently pushed Pansy into the closet and helped to pull the robes around herself so she wouldn't be seen. "Once everyone's in class, it'll be safe to come out."

"And then what?" Pansy demanded while she was being pushed into the darkness of the closet. "What happens when ten o'clock rolls around?"

"We'll decide that when the time comes!" Hermione assured her, but it was only a voice. Before Pansy knew it, the door had clicked close and she was gone.

* * *

Hermione slipped out of Pansy's room and quickly closed the door behind herself before Draco could catch a peek inside. She leaned against the door, listening as it clicked shut. Draco was looking at her curiously.  
"What took so long?" he wanted to know.

Hermione grabbed his wrist and pulled him back towards the Common Room. "I told you," she said as they walked. "I was getting dressed." She didn't give him a chance to respond. "I'm starving. Let's get to breakfast."

"Did you even see who was in here?"

"No, but I don't even care," Hermione lied, still pulling on his arm and dragging him towards the door. "Come on, already! I'm starving."

After they were out in the hallway, Draco apparently came out of his dazed state because he grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. "You're not listening to me," he said between his teeth. "Don't you even realize what just happened."

She was getting sick of playing the game, but instead of fighting, she humored him. "What happened, Draco?" she asked, trying her best to seem interested when all she wanted to do was get him as far away from the Slytherin Common Room as possible so that Pansy could escape.

"It was that mudblood, Granger!" he hissed. "You should have seen her! She burst into the Common Room like she owned the place or something."

Hermione attempted to look perplexed. "How did she know the password."

"Who knows," Draco mumbled. He grabbed her arm and pulled her along the hall. Apparently, now that he had her attention, it was okay to go to breakfast. "But I bet she and her weirdo friends are up to something. You seriously should have seen her."

"Crazy," Hermione said, rolling her eyes when she was sure he wasn't looking at her. "Anyway, who cares? I mean, she'll leave eventually. It's not like we have any secrets stored away or anything."

"Whatever," Draco said. "It's just unnerving to know that anyone can just break in whenever they want. And Granger! It's just not right."

"Calm down," Hermione suggested. "It's not the end of the world. When you get back to your precious Common Room everything will have gone back to normal." And she hoped she was right. She hoped that by the time lunch rolled around, she and Pansy would be in their own bodies... for good.

* * *

Harry, returning from the Hospital wing, entered the Common Room, setting his backpack on the floor just as he stepped inside. Briefly, he wondered if Ron and Hermione were already off to breakfast, but stopped wondering when he saw his friend sitting on a cozy couch in front of the fire with a book in his lap.

"Well, this is an odd sight to see," he commented, causing Ron to turn around and look at him. "You're actually studying in the morning?"

Ron shrugged and then looked back at his book. "I guess," he answered.

Harry flopped down on the chair adjacent from the couch that Ron was sitting on and stared at him. "Something wrong, Ron? You've been so quiet lately."

Ron shook his head but didn't look up from his book. "Nothing's wrong," he insisted.

"Oh," Harry muttered, even though he knew it was a lie. Ron had been moping and angry for several days, and honestly, it was starting to annoy him. But Ron was obviously not about to give anything up, so Harry decided he might as well change the subject.

"So," he said. "Where's Hermione? If you're sitting here studying this early, I kinda expected to see her on the other side of the room with her wand pointed at you or something."

"Ha, ha," Ron said. "Very funny. And to be honest, she ran off somewhere before I could ask. Looked as though she was in a hurry. I'm sure it's just some stupid club meeting with her nerdy Arithmancy friends."

Harry leaned against the armrest. "I see," he said. "Well, I suppose we'll see her in class, then."

* * *

Pansy waited for what she assumed had been an hour, and when she was sure that breakfast was over and all of the students were out of not only the Great Hall, but the Common Room as well, and she would be save to exit and return to class with everyone else.

She pushed her own clothes out of the way and emerged out of the closet and into the empty room, tip-toeing across the floor. When she reached the door, she hesitated and leaned against the door so that she could listen to see if she heard any sort of activity on the other side of the door.

Hearing nothing but silence, she quietly opened the door and peeked out, letting out a relieved breath when she realized that indeed, everyone had vacated the area.

From there on out, she didn't find any opposition and without trouble, she made it easily to her first class. Her only problem was that Professor McGonagall gave her a very disappointed look as she walked into class over fifteen minutes late and took her seat next to Harry in the very front row of the Gryffindor side of the classroom.

"Where have you been?" Harry hissed to her once she had pulled out her books. "Ron said you ran off somewhere before breakfast, but wouldn't tell me where."

Pansy hadn't anticipated this conversation, so she said the first thing that came to mind. "I wanted to be prepared for Arithmancy," she explained in a whisper. "I told him that there was a big test today, so I went to the library to get in some last minute studying." It surprised her how good she was getting at this Hermione thing.

Pansy watched as Harry looked back down at his desk. "That's strange," he whispered. "Ron told me that you didn't tell him where you went."

Hearing his name, Ron, who was on the other side of Harry, turned his head to look their way. Instead, he met eyes with Pansy, the silent questioning look in his eyes enough to make her hold his gaze until Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.

Pansy didn't pay attention during class. Instead, she kept her eyes glued to the clock. With each second time crept closer to ten o'clock, and with each second, Pansy felt her hope sliding further and further away. Every once in awhile she would close her eyes and just hope that when she opened them she would be back on the Slytherin side of the room, but every time she opened them, she was still sitting in the same seat next to Harry.

The clock finally reached the ten o'clock mark, and McGonagall dismissed her students from class. Pansy grabbed her things in a hurry and rushed out of the room. The last thing she wanted was to be reprimanded from McGonagall when she had much more important things to attend to. But before she could get out of the door, Ron grabbed her arm.

"Well?" he said when she looked at him. "Aren't you going to tell me what happened? I take it the switch didn't work yet."

She pulled him out of the way of the rushing students and put her finger over her lips. "Shh!" she hissed. "Don't talk about it in front of everyone!"

"No one's listening," Ron insisted.

"I don't care. I need to find Hermione and figure this out. The time period she said it should work in is over, and I'm not sure what we're going to do."

Ron frowned at her. "Just great," he said.

"Whatever," Pansy brushed his remark aside. "I just need you to distract Harry so that Hermione and I can figure out what we're going to do next. Keep him away from me."

"Fine," Ron agreed, lifting up his backpack further onto his shoulder. "Good luck… Hermione." And he turned around, grabbing Harry's arm just as he emerged from the room and steered him in the other direction.

Pansy took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was starting to be one of her longer days.

Finally, Hermione emerged from the room, and Pansy cleared her throat loudly.

"There you are!" Hermione said, rushing over to Pansy. "I was worried when you rushed out so quickly that I would miss you!"

Pansy pulled her further down the hallway where the crowd of students moving between classes was thinning out. "Look," she said, completely dismissing Hermione's worry. "In case you haven't noticed, it's after ten, and we're still stuck in each other's bodies."

Hermione looked away from her. "Yeah," she said. "I've kinda noticed that."

"So? What are we supposed to do next? You can't actually think we can continue living like this forever!"

"Of course not!" Hermione said in a hushed voice. "I was worrying about this after the potion didn't work right away, but I didn't want either of to panic about it."

Pansy's jaw dropped. "Why didn't you say something earlier?" she demanded.

Hermione cautiously looked back at her. "There was a chance it would still work, so I thought the best thing would be to stay positive."

"Great," Pansy said as she leaned up against the stone wall and put her hands over her face. When Hermione didn't say anything, she lowered her hands and stared at her. "What exactly do you suggest we do, then?"

"I'm afraid there's only one thing we can do," Hermione said regretfully.

"And that is?" Pansy prompted.

"We have to go to Snape."


	14. Chapter 14 Back to the Beginning?

**Author's Note: Here it is... chapter 14! I have a LONG way to go on chapter 15, so I'm not sure I'll be able to have it out next Sunday, but I'll try my best. If it's not out by next Sunday, I would hope to have it the following one... but I can't promise, unfortunately, due to my stupid Math class. throws rocks at workbooks Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! Please read and review!!!  
**

* * *

**Time for a Change  
Chapter Fourteen  
By: Lori Finnegan  
2007**

Hermione and Pansy rushed through the crowds, one after the other, until they got down into the dungeons and in front of Snape's door, where they stopped to look at each other, breathing deeply not only from their speedy trip down the stairs, but also because they were nervous as all hell.

"Well, are you going to knock, or should I?" Pansy wanted to know as they both stood there.

Hermione raised her fist. "I'll do it," she decided, and then tapped softly at the door a couple times.

It seemed like forever until the door swung open, and Snape appeared, frowning down on them. "What is it that I can do for you, Miss Parkinson... Miss Granger?"

Hermione looked up at him nervously. "Could we please come inside, Professor?" she asked. "There's something important we need to discuss with you."

Snape seemed to think about it for a moment, but then stepped aside so that they could enter. "Please make this prompt," he requested. "I'm very busy."

"Yes, sir," Hermione agreed as they walked past him and stood by his desk. She wondered if there was a time when Snape wasn't busy.

The two girls waited while Snape sat back down at his desk and gathered up some pieces of parchment. "Well, what are you waiting for? Please have a seat and start talking. I imagine whatever it is you have to say must be rather important for you to come and find me outside of class."

Hermione imagined that not many students, if any, wished to engage him in any sort of conversation outside of class. She quickly glanced over at Pansy, wondering if she was going to do the talking, but realized that wasn't the case when she saw Pansy's pale face.

"You see, Professor…" Hermione started out. "About a week and a half ago, there was a little potions mishap that happened during class. We attempted to right the situation ourselves, but we failed. We didn't want to bother you, but seeing that we ran out of options…"

Snape looked up from his papers and right at Hermione and then looked over at Pansy. "Excuse me for being so dense," he said, "but I haven't noticed any oversized noses or ears. What exactly was this mishap that you speak of?"

"Well," Hermione went on, "The potion that was supposed to turn us green, but we accidentally added a little too much water, and the side effect… well, it left little to be desired. We ended up—"

"I know what extra water does to that potion," Snape said as he looked between them. "Are you telling me that the two of you are no longer in your own bodies?"

They both nodded at him slowly.

Snape stared at them for an overly long moment and then finally blinked, to their slight relief. Without a word, he stood up from his chair and went into his supply closet where all students knew they were never, under any condition, allowed to enter. When he emerged, he held a small bottle with a stopper in it and placed it gently onto the table before looking back at the girls.

"I could just give you the correct potion and send you on your way," he said. "But to be honest with you, I'm quite interested in why you didn't come to me the very moment this happened."

Pansy finally sat forward in her chair. "We thought we could handle it, Professor," she explained simply. "Hermione dug up the potion recipe from some obscure library text, and she was confident we would have positive results."

"I see," Snape said, folding his arms over his chest as his glare fixed on Hermione. "So, now it's assumed that Miss Know-It-All truly does know it all?"

Hermione had to stop herself from shooting death glares back at him. The best she could do was avert her eyes.

"Why don't you show me the ingredients, Miss Granger?" Snape said, holding his hand out to her.

Reluctantly, Hermione shuffled through her backpack until she produced the list and handed it over to Snape. "There was only one written source for such a potion, sir," she told him. "We were merely working with what we had."

His eyes were fixed on the list, and when they reached the end, a small sneer crept to his lips. "I actually find this somewhat amusing," he finally said.

Hermione took a quick glance at Pansy, as she doubted he could find anything amusing, but Pansy was still staring at him with wide eyes. But it didn't really matter right now, she decided as she slowly turned her head back to face him.

"The reason your potion was a failure was not because you made a mistake with the ingredients or not even with the brewing itself," Snape went on. "The problem was with your research… or rather, Hogwarts' strange need to keep ancient books on its shelves that are extremely out of date. You see, the reason you were only able to find this particular version of the potion was because I had taken out the book on the new edition. It just so happens that my stock was expired, and I had to make some more for just such situations. And now, thanks to you two, I'll have to start over once again."

"But, Professor," Hermione spoke up. "Why is it that the old formula no longer works?"

Snape gave her an irritated look before answering. "I would think you would know this, Miss Granger, but the properties of the ingredients, especially ones coming from animal and beast sources, have the tendency to change over time. It's always a risk to make potions that were written over a thousand years ago."

Hermione looked down in her lap uncomfortably. He was right; she should have known that. Perhaps it was their desperation that had made her overlook that obvious fact.

I think you girls have learned your lesson," Snape said as he handed the list of ingredients back to Hermione. "However, I'm going to give you both Ds on the original assignment, and you will both spend every evening, including weekends, in detention until the Christmas holiday. And in all honestly, Miss Granger, Miss Parkinson, this feels like more of a punishment to me than to you."

Hermione wasn't surprised by their punishment, so she kept her eyes on the floor and her mouth closed.

"So, please, I want each of you to drink half of the bottle and return to your appropriate classes. And do so quickly. I will see you in class and then at eight o'clock this evening, on the dot, for detention. Understood?" He pushed the bottle closer to their end of the desk.

Both girls nodded as he turned around and returned to the shelves. When he finally had his back to them, they glanced at each other regretfully.

Pansy was the first to reach for the bottle. As she tilted it towards her lips, she took one more look over at Hermione. Hermione nodded at her for reassurance, and when Pansy took a gulp and set it down on the table, Hermione picked up the bottle and finished it off.

The two girls stared at each other, waiting for something to happen, and the next thing they knew, they were back in their own bodies, looking at each other's appropriate faces.

They couldn't help but smile at each other. Happy to be back in her own body, but feeling a little bit weird to be there, Hermione grinned as she and Pansy quickly rushed to make it to Defense Against the Dark Arts on time. They stopped in front of the door and slipped through just before class began.

* * *

Ron looked past Harry at what appeared to be Hermione and wondered if they had indeed been successful in switching back to their own bodies. It was hard to tell without actually talking to her. Hell, it had taken him long enough to even realize that she wasn't Hermione anymore last time.

"Psst!" he hissed at her. "Where have you been? You're usually not late to class, not to mention you completely missed our last one!"

"I got caught up with something," she hissed back at him. "And you should pay attention during class!"

Ron turned his head back to the front of the class and smiled to himself. Now, that was definitely Hermione.

When class ended, Ron picked up his things and shoved them into his bag. And when he stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder, he couldn't help but let his eyes follow over to the Slytherin side of the room where they landed directly on Pansy Parkinson. He was surprised when he noticed that her eyes lifted to meet his, and she winked at him. Ron shot her a crooked grin and then tore his eyes away quickly so that Harry and Hermione wouldn't notice the odd exchange that he had had with a Slytherin.

* * *

"Just what was that?" Draco demanded, and Pansy jumped, startled by his voice. "Did I just see you wink at Weasley!?" he said Ron's name as if it had a nasty taste..

Pansy immediately put her hands up to her eye. "Are you crazy? I think I got some dust in my eye, is all. Damn house elves need to dust more than once a month."

Draco didn't say anything for a moment as Pansy busied herself with picking up her books and dropping them into her backpack.

"I don't like the way he looks at you," he finally spoke up when she started to walk down the isle and towards the exit.

Knowing that he couldn't see her from where he stood, Pansy rolled her eyes at his comment. "What are you talking about? You're delusional, Draco, honestly."

He caught up to her. "Don't tell me you didn't see that look he was giving you," he said. "I am seriously going to hex him the next time he looks at you."

"Don't be ridiculous," Pansy said as she walked through the exit, failing to hold the door open for him. When he finally caught up to her again, he was even more upset than before.

"I don't know what to do with you," he said between his teeth as they made their way through a group of fourth years who were lined up trying to get into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. "Why can't you just be honest with me for a change?" he demanded.

Pansy stopped in her tracks and waited till he turned to face her. "Listen, Draco, I am being bloody honest with you. It's not my fault that Ron Weasley has some sort of tick that makes his face contort into ugly expressions."

Draco frowned at her. "Whatever," he said, and turned back around to lead the way to their next class, which just happened to be Potions. "Come on," he muttered. "We're going to be late."

Pansy glared at his back. What was with him? Maybe she should have listened to Hermione a little more when she tried to tell her about Draco the night before…

* * *

That evening, after dinner, Hermione decided to spend some time in the library. In the week that she'd been stuck pretending to be a Slytherin, she forgot just how loud the Gryffindor Common Room could be, and she just wanted some peace and quiet while she worked on her homework.

She couldn't have been more surprised when Ron sat down across from her with a smile on his face.

"Are you going to study with me or something?" she inquired before he had a chance to say anything. Her question was answered as he placed a book down in front of him on the table.

"Why not?" he wanted to know. "We never get to study together."

"Yeah," Hermione said suspiciously. "That's because when we do study together it's usually you copying my answers."

Ron flipped his book open and began searching for a specific spot in the text. "Well, this time I'm serious," he said. "And besides, I think we should spend more time together. You're always off studying on your own, so I thought the best way to spend time with you was to join you."

Hermione continued to stare at him. He must want help with his homework, she thought. "What do you need help on, Ron," she sighed, looking down at his book. "Transfiguration?"

"You're not listening to me, Hermione," Ron said, the smile still on his face. "I just wanted to spend time with you. We haven't been hanging out too much lately."

"I see," she replied, but she was still suspicious. She knew for a fact that he completely detested homework and always left it till the last minute. He was even worse than Harry. She decided to humor him since it didn't seem like he was going to be giving up this line of thought anytime soon.

"Okay, then," she said, handing him a blank piece of parchment. "Let's get studying!"

* * *

"No, no, no," Draco heard a voice from the other side of the bookshelf. "You never add fluxweed to potions that are meant to alter emotion. The result could be hazardous!"

"How was I supposed to know that?" another voice asked.

From their conversation, as well as their obnoxious voices, Draco could tell without a doubt that he was listening to one of Granger's tutoring sessions... and she was pretty unlucky because it was Weasley who needed help. He almost felt sorry for her.

Almost. After all, it had been a crazy Granger that had invaded their Common Room that very morning. And he still hadn't found out why, and for some reason, she had escaped with not only no one noticing her, but without punishment as well.

"Well, if you'd been paying attention in class," Granger told him, "maybe you would have known."

"Okay, okay, I get it now," Weasley gave in. "No... fluxweed.. in emotional... potions," he said it as he were writing it down in his notes. "Got it. I think I'm fine on my own now. Thanks, Hermione."

Draco rolled his eyes. Weasley's essay would definitely be returned to him with red marks all over it. He wondered why Weasley didn't just drop Potions and skip the pain and misery that came with it. It was obvious that his work wasn't up to par with Snape's standards.

"You're welcome, Ron," Granger told him. "Next time you should actually try reading the chapter before you try doing the homework for it. Geez."

Draco suddenly felt a little jealous, which was a very odd and new feeling for him, and for any Malfoy, he was sure. It wasn't that he was jealous of Weasley studying with Granger, it was just that generally, Draco didn't really have anyone to study with besides Pansy, and let's face it, she wasn't always in the helping mood. Though sometimes she was, and this past week had proved it.

He just didn't understand why she wouldn't let him into her room to study after dinner. It was why he had come to the library in the first place... he just didn't expect to have to listen to Granger and Weasley having a lovers' quarrel.

And when Weasley asked for help again, Draco couldn't stand to listen to their conversation anymore. He quickly gathered up his books and quills and moved to another part of the library.

If he was going to be forced to study all by himself, then he shouldn't have to be interrupted by Granger and Weasley's stupid conversation.

* * *

Pansy was on her stomach as she studied for her next Divination exam from her bed. It was nice to be back in her room. When she had been in Gryffindor, she never had a moments peace due to Hermione's ever chattering roommates.

And while she sure didn't miss them, she was a little surprised that she did miss two other people... and now that she was back to being Pansy Parkinson, she knew she'd never really be able to go back to that place again... especially with Harry since he had absolutely no clue what had been going on that last week.

She was still thinking about her time as Hermione when there was a knock on the door, and she jumped, startled. "Come in," she said after she had recovered.

The door opened and Blaise stuck his head through the entrance. "You busy?" he wanted to know. "Can I come in?"

Pansy sighed. "Sure, why not?" She had already turned Draco down for a study session, but for some reason, Blaise wasn't quite as annoying to her as Draco was at the current moment.

Blaise smiled and came inside, closing the door securely behind himself. He walked over to her bed and sat down on the floor, putting his book on the chair next to the bed. "What are you working on?"

"Just Divination," she replied, not taking her eyes off of the text. "We have to memorize some star charts. Boring as hell, but I have to get it done."

Blaise leaned back against the side of her bed. "Remember last time you helped me with my Transfiguration essay?" he asked.

Pansy didn't remember, but she since it sounded like it was something Hermione had done instead of her, she nodded her head. "Yeah," she mumbled.

"And you said you'd help me with mine the next time if I brought it to you sooner..."

That made Pansy look up at him. What the hell did she know about Transfiguration that Blaise didn't? Of course, Hermione had the top Transfiguration grade in their whole year.

"I'm sorry, Blaise, but I don't really have time right now," she replied. Even if she did try and help him with his essay, she'd probably mess it up completely for him.

Blaise just looked at her for a moment. "Well, if I leave it with you, can you look it over when you do have time?"

Pansy figured she could at least give it to Hermione to look at it. After all, it was Hermione who made the promise, not her. "Sure," she agreed. "Just leave it on my desk, and I'll give it back to you sometime tomorrow."

"Thanks, Pansy," Blaise said, springing to his feet and pulling his essay out of his folder. "You're the best."

She batted her eyes at him. "I already know that, Blaise," she said with a smile.

* * *

The next morning, Pansy found it harder than she thought to get Hermione's attention. The night before, in detention, she had completely forgotten to mention Blaise's Transiguration essay to her. And now that they no longer had their morning meeting after breakfast, she didn't know how she was going to get her to look at Blaise' homework. All during breakfast she had been trying to catch Hermione's eyes to no avail. Instead of sitting up and chatting with her friends during breakfast like a normal person, Hermione had her nose in a text book while Harry and Ron seemed to be animatedly talking about a Quidditch game.

Pansy gave up and decided to try and track her down after breakfast. So when she saw her get up from her spot at the Gryffindor table and walk towards the exit, she quickly shoved her unfinished plate towards the middle of the table, muttered an excuse to Draco and Blaise, and made a break for the door as well, her backpack just barely making it over her shoulder as she took off.

When she made it out into the halls, she saw Hermione walking towards the library. "Psst!" she hissed loudly.

Hermione turned around, looking a little confused when she saw that it was Pansy who was trying to get her attention. "What is it?" she wanted to know.

"I need to ask you a favor," Pansy said as she walked towards Hermione. "Well, it's not really a favor," she went on before Hermione had a chance to say anything. "It's something you promised Blaise last week... and now he expects me to do it."

"Oh?" Hermione said. "Oh... is this about Transfiguration homework?"

"Yeah." Pansy dug through her bag and pulled out a roll of parchment. "He just wants you to read it over and make sure it's okay. You apparently did such a good job last time that he doesn't trust himself anymore."

Hermione took the essay from her and put it into her own backpack. "No problem. Blaise's writing is usually right on anyway. Last time I barely changed anything."

"Good to know," Pansy said as she slung her backpack back onto her back and then went to turn around. "See you in class!"

* * *

Harry and Ron walked out of the Great hall, laughing about something stupid that Ron had said just a few minutes earlier, when Harry caught a glimpse of Pansy Parkinson making her way away from Hermione, who stood still in the middle of the hallway, seemingly rearranging the contents of her backpack.

"Everything okay, Hermione?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she replied, looking up at him. "I just was making sure I remembered to put my Potions assignment in my bag this morning. Luckily, I did."

"When was the last time you forgot an assignment?" Harry wanted to know, glancing at Ron for support, but Ron only shrugged. Harry could easily see that his mind was on other things.

Hermione only smiled at him. "Just checking," she said. "By the way, how are you feeling after yesterday's fall? I was so worried."

"I'm feeling better," He replied. "I was a little sore after yesterday morning, but today I feel almost back to normal."

"Wonderful what Madam Pomfrey's drafts can do," Ron finally chimed in. "Hey, you guys ready to get to class?"

Harry looked over at Ron suspiciously. Since when was Ron anxious to go to class? That was supposed to have been Hermione's line.

"Of course," she told him. "Let's get going."

* * *

Towards the end of Hermione's second day back in her own body, she was almost getting used to it again. Her friendships with Harry and Ron hadn't seemed to skip a beat, and all of her professors seemed thrilled that she was back to her normal self and answering the normal amount of questions during her classes. However, Hermione felt as though something was missing.

And during Care of Magical Creatures, as she looked across the grassy field, she realized that she wasn't missing something in her own life, it was something in Pansy's life... and his name was Draco Malfoy.

While Draco wasn't the kindest of boys, and he most certainly wasn't the friendliest, Hermione couldn't help but miss the time that she had spent with him. Sure, Harry and Ron were fantastic friends and they always had been... but to them, she was just one of the guys. However, when Hermione had been with Draco, he seemed to think of her as more than just someone to help him with his homework and someone to hang out with... with him, she was a girl... and it kind of felt nice for a change.

When his eyes looked up from the small animal in the cage in front of him and met hers, she quickly looked away. The last thing she wanted was any trouble from him. Now that she was back to being Hermione, she knew that he wouldn't possibly think of her as a friend.

Ron nudged her elbow. "Are you okay, Hermione?" he whispered to her as Hagrid began talking about the types of creatures they'd be working with tomorrow.

She nodded, not even bothering to look up at him.

"It's just that you're usually scribbling notes during class... and today, I don't even think you were paying attention," Ron told her.

"I'm just a little tired," she lied to him, and immediately felt guilty for it. "I was up too late studying."

"Typical," Ron replied. "Well, we better make sure you get plenty of sleep tonight. No late night studying tonight, Hermione."

Hermione nodded again, agreeing with him. She was already a few days ahead of her studies anyway, so going to bed early and catching up on sleep wouldn't be the end of the world.

"That's it for t'day," Hagrid announced as he began stacking up the cages. "See ya all t'morrow!"

Hermione, Ron and Harry packed up their things and walked up the hill and back to the castle.

"Hermione's going to be relaxing tonight," Ron told Harry. "Can you believe I caught her dazing during class?"

Harry looked over at Hermione with a concerned expression on his face. "Are you feeling okay?" he wanted to know.

"I'm fine," she replied with a slight smile. "Just tired. And relaxing is a good idea, I think."

* * *

Draco walked up the hill with his classmates, his eyes fixed on the cold ground as they made their way along. He had been feeling a little uneasy since the end of class just then, and was having trouble shaking it.

It had been really weird when he had caught Granger looking at him... but what was even weirder was that he didn't feel like making a big deal about it.

And that's what disturbed him the most.

There was just something about her eyes... but he wasn't sure exactly what it was. Perhaps she had been feeling guilty about her stint in the Slytherin common room the other day, especially the part where she shoved him out of her way, and was trying to apologize to him.

Apologize? As if he'd accept it anyway! There was no excuse for a mudblood running into Slytherin territory, especially uninvited. And so instead of concentrating on that strange, yet familiar look he had observed in her eyes, he made himself angry over her intrusion the other morning. It only seemed more natural.

"Something, wrong, Draco?" Blaise asked as they walked through the side doors to the castle.

He quickly glanced at Blaise and decided to reveal some of his thoughts to his friend. "Do you remember when that mudblood stormed into the Common Room yesterday morning?" he asked and waited for a reply.

"Yeah," Blaise replied. "What about it?"

"She was staring at me in the middle of class. It was unnerving, you know?"

"Ah, who cares," Blaise told him. "Some seventh years told Snape anyway, and he's looking into it. Don't get all upset about it."

"It's just weird how she got in there, you know?" he reminded Blaise.

"I know..." Blaise agreed.

Pansy pushed her way between them as they walked past the great Hall towards the staircase to the dungeons. "What are you guys talking about?" she wanted to know.

Draco looked over at her as he made room for her between them as they walked. "Just about Granger bursting into the Common Room yesterday," he said.

"Snape is taking care of it," Blaise added in, looping his arm through Pansy's. "I told him not to worry about it."

"Yeah, it's really no big deal," Pansy agreed. "So what if Granger was in the Common Room? It's not like she'd do anything anyway... after all, she's such a goody-goody."

"Which is why it was weird for her to be in there in the first place..." Draco mused just as they reached the Common Room. "I'll see you guys at dinner," he said as they stepped through the doorway. "I'm going to get started on my Arithmancy charts."

He could feel their eyes on his back as he walked to the boy's side of the dormitories and towards his room. He just couldn't shake the unsettling feeling he was getting. Things around him had changed so quickly, but he wasn't quite sure what they were... and he didn't know what he could do about it.

* * *

That evening, Hermione sat in the back of the Gryffindor Common Room eating the bag lunch that Harry and Ron had brought her from the Great Hall after dinner, and trying to read a book that she had picked up at the library earlier that day.

"You better not be studying," Harry said as he sat down across from her at the table. "You're supposed to be taking it easy tonight."

"It's just fiction," she replied, picking up a slice of apple from the tablet and taking a bite of it. "This is how I wind down."

"You're weird," Harry replied. "But that's why..." he trailed off. "Hey," he said. "Just don't overdo it okay? Things have been... pretty stressful lately, and Ron is right. It'll be good to have a quiet night for a change. I might have one myself."

"That'll be good," Hermione agreed, though she wondered what he was going to say before he changed the topic. "And you and Ron are right. We just all need a break from everything... even if it's only for one night."

"See you later, Hermione. I'm gonna get an early start on my night." Harry snatched up a slice of her apple and popped it into his mouth before he got up and walked back to the boys' dormitories.

Hermione watched him disappear around the corner and up the staircase before she took another apple from the table. She'd have to ask Pansy later to be sure, but Harry seemed a little different since they switched back.

Then again, maybe it was her that had changed, not Harry. She wasn't completely sure.

* * *

Ginny Weasley had fallen asleep on a couch in the Common Room in front of the fireplace. She woke up abruptly when she heard a door open. She looked over the top of the couch just in time to see Hermione walking through the portrait hole.

Just above the door, the large golden clock struck eleven.


	15. Chapter 15 Suspicions and Paranoia

**Author's Note: Well, here it is, after two weeks of nothing... Chapter 15! My friend Tracy and I have been doing a writing challenge... and it's helping my motivation to keep writing. Hopefully I'll have chapter 16 for you by next weekend. I hope everyone likes 15! Please continue to read and please review! Please? Hehe... and thanks so much for all of the reviews so far. They just make my day when I read them :)  
**

* * *

**  
Time for a Change  
Chapter Fifteen   
By: Lori Finnegan   
2007**

Hermione walked quickly down the cool hallways, her only light at the tip of her wand. She felt horrible for sneaking out so late that night, but just before she had been about to fall asleep, she had woken up and remembered that she had forgotten to look over her notes for tomorrow's Arithmancy test. She couldn't go into her test tomorrow without studying for it one last time!

And she just happened to know a spot that would be very quiet and very deserted... the secret room in the Slytherin dungeons.

She had made it inside without being caught by anyone, thankfully, and once she lit the two lanterns and pulled out her homework, a comfortable feeling came over her as she sat down on the couch and opened her Arithmancy text book on her lap.

* * *

Draco Malfoy was still suspicious of Pansy's actions as of late. Not only was she avoiding him, but he still didn't have an answer about any of her odd behavior. And since she had never mentioned the outcome of her strange potion, he decided that while everyone was asleep, he would go and check it out and see if he could actually dig up this so called extra credit potion.

But when he opened the door to his and Pansy's secret room, he realized that he was not alone. He was shocked to see a pair of socked feet hanging over the side of the couch that faced the door.

Thinking that Pansy had had her own ideas about spending some time alone in the room, he decided to freak her out a little. He crept up to the back of the couch and jumped up, leaning over her.

"BOO!" he shouted.

But when he saw that the girl on the couch was not Pansy, he froze in place, so stunned that he went toppling over the back of the couch, his head hitting the edge of the couch as he fell over it and did a not so graceful somersault onto the floor.

Granger, who seemed just as surprised to see him as he was to see her there, screamed at the top of her lungs, throwing her heavy book down at his head.

"Ouch!" he yelled as it connected with his skull and then toppled to the floor beside him.

"What do you think you're doing!" she said, leaning over the edge of the couch to look at him. "Can't you see that I'm studying!?"

Draco stared at her with his mouth wide open. "How dare you talk to me in that tone of voice!" he told her. "And I should be asking you that question! Just who do you think you are barging into Slytherin territory uninvited?"

"I don't see your name on the door," she shot back at him. "All I was doing was studying. I hardly think that's a crime."

"We'll just see about that," Draco said as he pushed himself up from the floor and brushed the dust away from his trousers. "I'd like to hear what Snape says about you being out of your dormitory after hours... and in a Slytherin area, even."

Granger didn't flinch. "I see," she said. "Then I'm sure he'd also be interested in why you're out of your dormitory after hours as well."

Draco glared at her. He should have spotted that one coming. He wasn't sure what to say to her, so he just stared at her with his mouth slightly open.

"Cat got your tongue?" she said, deadpan.

"Just get out of here!" he said in a louder voice. "You don't belong here!"

Granger stared at him for a moment, as if thinking about whether or not to challenge his demand, and then gathered up her books in a hurried fashion. "Just so you know," she said, not bothering to look up at him. "I'm not leaving because you told me to, but because it's way too late for me to be studying."

"There's a time limit to your studying?" Draco questioned. "I thought you studied twenty-four hours a day."

Granger shot him yet another glare as she pulled her backpack over her shoulder and stalked towards the door. "As if what I do in my free time is any of your business," she said right before exiting.

"It sure the hell is my business when you're on Slytherin grounds!" he called back to her, but he couldn't be sure that she heard him. By the time he peeked down the dark hallway that led to the next room, it seemed to be empty.

* * *

When Hermione returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, thankfully not spotted by any professors roaming the hallways, she breathed a sigh of relief. But just as she was about to relax, she noticed a note sitting on the chair closest to the door, and her name was scrawled on the outside.

Carefully, she picked up and unfolded the parchment. Inside, were big curly letters that said, _'I need to talk to you tomorrow morning. -Ginny._'

Hermione folded the parchment back up into a little square and put it into her pocket. Why would Ginny leave a note for her in the Common Room like that? Had she seen her leave earlier and knew she'd see it when she got back?

Hermione certainly couldn't tell her that she had been hiding out in a secret Slytherin room. But the good news was that she had all night to think up another plausible excuse.

* * *

Draco returned to his own Common Room fuming. By the time he reached the back of the room and towards the dormitories, he stopped and tried to force himself to take some deep breaths.

Something very weird was going on, he was sure of it, he thought as he stood there staring at the staircase that led to the boys' dormitories. Not only had Granger infiltrated his common room, but he she had also shown up in the secret room that he thought only he and Pansy knew about.

Pansy.

If he hadn't told anyone, perhaps Pansy had let the word out... but why Granger? Out of all people, Draco would have never guessed that Pansy would share their secret with goody-goody Granger.

Finally calmed down a bit, he ascended the stairs and decided to ask Pansy about it in the morning. This wasn't something she could keep from him. At least not if he had anything to do with it.

* * *

The next morning, Ron was so hungry for breakfast, he even beat Harry out of their dormitory and went down to breakfast by himself. And when he walked into the Great Hall, he noticed that there weren't many people there yet.

"You look confused," he heard a voice say, and he turned to look in its direction. "Did you forget your brain back in your dormitory or something?"

"Ha, ha," Ron said, rolling his eyes at Pansy. "I'm just usually not up this early," he explained. I've never seen it so empty in the morning."

"You should wake up early more often," she told him. "This way you don't have to listen to all of the obnoxious chatter that the students at this school seem to always be doing."

Ron looked at her suspiciously, as if she were maybe referring to Gryffindor behavior. "I guess," he muttered.

She slapped him on the back, her hand falling a little harder than he expected, and he moved forward just a bit to catch his balance. "Don't sound so depressed, Ron," she said, smiling at him. "Enjoy the silence for once."

Ron watched as she walked away from him and towards the Slytherin table where Crabbe and Goyle were already stuffing their faces with plenty of bacon and sausages.

* * *

Hermione walked down the steps from the girls' dormitories and quietly stepped into the Common Room. She really didn't want to meet Ginny as the note had suggested she do, but when she saw Ginny sitting in a chair by the bottom of the steps, she realized that luck was not on her side this time. 

Ginny put down her book. "Good morning, Hermione," she said. "Did you get my note last night?"

"Morning," Hermione replied, still standing at the bottom of the steps. She didn't really want to acknowledge that she had received the note, because that would mean that she was indeed out of the dormitories after hours, but she wasn't sure what else she could say. "I got your note," she admitted after a pause. "What is it that you want to talk to me about?"

"I'm just concerned," Ginny replied. "I was up late in the Common Room last night, and I saw you sneak out. And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you tell Harry and Ron that you were going to take it easy last night?"

Hermione sighed. Ginny was too sharp for her own good, and it didn't help that she was also nosy. "I know I told them that I'd relax," she said as she looked down at her feet. "But I just needed to get out and move around a little. I know it wasn't the smartest thing to do, going out after hours, but I was starting to feel claustrophobic in my dormitory." Wow. Hermione couldn't believe how easily the lie came out.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't get caught," Ginny told her as she picked up her book and stuffed it into the backpack next to the chair. "Maybe we should get to breakfast."

Hermione sighed again, happy that Ginny had believed her little lie. "Sure," she agreed.

As she and Ginny made their way towards the portrait hole, Ginny stopped in her tracks.

"Something wrong?" Hermione asked.

"I'm okay," Ginny told her. "I'm just worried about you, still. Things have seemed so weird lately... and no matter how many times I ask you guys about it, you all push me away and tell me that nothing's wrong. Well, I'm not so small anymore, and I think I would consider myself your friend... but no one seems to want to confide in me anymore."

Hermione stared at her in shock as a small tear escaped from the corner of her eye. "Ginny..." she started.

"I just don't understand why no one wants to tell me anything," Ginny went on. "Did I do something to make you guys mad?"

Hermione pulled her back to the front couch and pushed her to a seating position. "Ginny, that's not it at all. And I'm sorry that things have been kind of weird lately, but none of it has been to hurt your feelings."

Ginny blinked at her. "Will you tell me what this is all about?"

Hermione continued to stare at Ginny's sad face as she tried to figure out what the best thing to do was. "If I tell you," she started, "You have to promise not to tell anyone. Not ever."

Ginny suddenly perked up. "I promise!" she said in a hushed voice.

Hermione looked around the Common Room to make sure they were alone before she started telling Ginny the story.

* * *

Draco waited not so patiently outside of the Great Hall just after breakfast. He had left the others inside and was waiting for Pansy to emerge so he could pull her aside privately and ask her if she knew anything about Granger's infiltration into their secret room, but it was already five to eight, and if he didn't leave for breakfast in a few minutes, he'd never make it to Transfiguration on time.

Impatiently, he paced a small section of the corridor, glancing at his watch from time to time. And finally, just as he was about to give up and make his way to class, the door creaked open and there she stood.

She rolled her eyes when she saw him. "Are you waiting for me?" she asked, sounding annoyed.

"Why, yes. Yes, I am," he replied after he had stopped his pacing and turned to face her. "It just so happens that I have something of great importance to discuss with you."

"Great importance?" Pansy echoed. "Like what?"

Draco took a few steps towards her and blocked the hall that led to the the classrooms so she couldn't get by him. "Let me ask you a question," he hissed at her. "Just how many people have you told about our secret room? And how many of those people were Gryffindors?!"

Pansy's eyes lost their shine for a moment, but before Draco could blink, the sparkle was back. "Why would I tell anyone about our secret room? And especially a Gryffindor. My Merlin, Draco, who do you think I am?"

Draco's eyes narrowed at her. "You're lying to me."

"Why would I lie to you?" she said as she folded her arms over her chest. "Do you think I enjoy your death glares?"

"No," Draco admitted. "But would you like to know how I know that you're lying?"

Pansy rolled her eyes at him. "Whatever."

"It was Granger," he said. "I found Granger doing her homework in our secret room. Now, why would she be in there if neither one of us showed it to her?"

Pansy shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Well, it wasn't me, so it had to be you!"

She stepped away from him and tried to get around his stance, but he stepped in front of her once more. "Seriously, Draco," she sighed. "Who knows how little-miss-goody-goody got into that room? How can you be for certain that we're the only ones who know about its existence?"

Draco glared at her. He couldn't argue with that. He really couldn't be sure that no one else know of its location. "You swear you didn't tell her about it?" he tried one last time.

"I swear!" Pansy told him. "Now would you let me pass? I want to get to class before McGonagall locks the doors."

Draco let her by, stared at her until she reached the stairs, and then quickly followed her path. He didn't want to face McGonagall's wrath, either.

* * *

"Are you serious?" Ginny demanded of Hermione after Hermione had just finished telling her about everything that had gone on in the last two weeks. "Why didn't you tell anyone?!"

Hermione looked away from Ginny. "It was already complicated enough without letting everyone in on what happened. Besides, you know how secrets are kept in this school. By dinner time the whole school would have known. We were trying to keep out of trouble with Snape."

"I guess," Ginny replied. "I just can't believe that Pansy was pretending to be you for over a week and no one noticed. You'd think that Harry and Ron would have picked up on it."

Hermione shrugged. "Apparently Pansy did a pretty good job at pretending to be me," she said. "At least from what I can tell."

"And you?" Ginny said. "How was it pretending to be Pansy? Was Malfoy absolutely vile, or what?"

Hermione thought about it for a second. She wouldn't necessarily call Draco vile, but he definitely hadn't been the most pleasant person to spend her time with. "Maybe not vile," she admitted. "But not far from it. I actually saw a different side to Slytherin than the one that we usually see. It was quite interesting, actually."

Ginny wrinkled her nose at Hermione. "Seriously? A softer side to Slytherin? You've got to be kidding me."

Hermione sighed. "As much as I'd like to say that I'm kidding, I'm not." She paused. "But none of that really matters anymore, because I'm back with my friends and back where I belong... and I'm really happy to be here." She gave Ginny a sincere smile and smiled even bigger when Ginny smiled back at her. "But you have to promise," she added on after Ginny began to reach for her back pack once again. "You can't tell anyone about this. You're the only person besides me and Pansy who knows."

Ginny nodded. "I swear I won't tell a soul," she said sincerely, and Hermione believed her.

* * *

The day flew by for Pansy. All she had done was doodle in the margins on her text books and doze off during class, and before she knew it, they were at their last class of the day, Care of Magical Creatures. Unfortunately, though, it was not another opportunity for a nap.

Hagrid had placed about twenty cages in a small field by his hut and told everyone to pair up so they could get a good view at the creatures. After a complete examination, the pairs were to write a small report on their findings and then turn it in at the end of the class.

"What're ya waitin' for?" Hagrid called out as everyone stared at him. "Pair up!"

Pansy was so busy drawing a scribble of Hagrid in her book that by the time she looked up, everyone else had already found a partner.

Feeling slightly left out, she looked around, hoping she had misjudged the group and there was someone else who didn't have a partner.

"Who here don't have a partner?" Hagrid asked loudly.

Pansy looked up at him and noticed that Ron was standing partnerless at his side. She waited a moment before raising her hand slowly.

"There we go!" Hagrid exclaimed as he gave Ron a hard push towards Pansy. "It's good ta work wit different types a people every now'n then."

Ron stumbled forward and recovered quickly before he made his way back to Pansy. "So," he said as he took a spot next to her in front of their cage. "Neville's sick today."

"So is Millicent," Pansy replied.

They both stood there side by side staring at the cage while the Slytherins around them chattered away.

"Okay now," Hagrid said, taking his spot in front of the group. "Now open yer cage an' observe the creatures."

Unfortunately, though, not one person made a move for the hinges.

"What're ya waitin' for?" Hagrid called. "They're harmless creatures. I swear!"

Pansy looked over at Ron to see what he would do, but Ron was already reaching for the latch. "Are you crazy?" she hissed, grabbing his wrist before he could set the beast loose.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he demanded. "Hagrid said to open the cages, so I'm opening the cage."

"Do you want to die or something? Look at that thing!"

They both peered in through the metal bars at a weird looking creature with long ears that stuck up thin and pointy beak. It was covered in a reddish brown fur and had sharp looking claws on each of its four feet.

"It can't be that bad," Ron commented. "It looks awful small to me."

Pansy rolled her eyes at him. "Just because it's small doesn't mean it won't claw your eyes out."

Ron gulped, and when Pansy looked over at him, she could see Draco poking fingers inside of his cage and laughing as the creature made a funny sound that sounded like a painful squeal.

"What're ya kids waitin' for?" Hagrid asked again. "They won't hurt ya!"

Ron took a deep breath and unlatched the hinge that held the creature inside its cage. At first, the thing backed inside the cage and refused to come out. It almost looked afraid.

"Is something wrong with ours?" Pansy asked Ron softly as she knelt in front of the cage. She wouldn't startle the creature any more than they apparently already had.

"I don't think so," Ron said, kneeling down beside her. "Come on out, little guy," he encouraged, holding out his hand so the creature could see that he meant no harm.

Slowly, the creature emerged from the cage and sat in front of the two of them, looking up into their eyes.

For the next thirty minutes, they both took observations and Pansy wrote them down into her notebook. "I think we have enough to do our essay," she commented as she watched as the creature curled up in Ron's lap, apparently ready for a nap. "Why don't we put him back inside."

"But look how cute he is," Ron cooed to the creature, who had affectionately named Fuzzy. "I wish I could take Fuzzy home as a pet."

"He's a wild creature, Ron. They're not meant for pets. No matter what Hagrid claims"

"I know," Ron groaned as he lifted Fuzzy and placed him back in the cage. Reluctantly, he shut the door. "It's okay," he said to him. "Hagrid will take good care of you."

Pansy rolled her eyes again. Gryffindors were so impossible.

"Class is dismissed!" Hagrid called out. "I'm sorry we din't have time fer yer essays, but please work on 'em outside a class n turn them in on Friday b'fore the Christmas Holiday."

All around Pansy, students were packing up their things and talking excitedly about what they were going to do after dinner. She looked over at Ron. "Meet you in the library at nine tonight?" she offered. "Hermione and I have detention at eight, and I'll go there afterwards."

Ron nodded. "Sure," he said. "This shouldn't take too long anyway."

* * *

After dinner, Hermione made her usual excuse about meeting her study group for Arithmancy, and raced off to the dungeons so she'd be on time for her detention with Snape. The clock just struck eight as she knocked on his door.

It swung open, seemingly on its own accord and Snape was still at his desk, looking at her with narrowed eyes.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Professor," she apologized as she sat down in the chair next to Pansy.

"One minute more, and I was going to extend your detention into January," he threatened. "But no matter. For tonight's detention the two of you will be mixing up five full batches of one of my most common potions. It regrows hair. You wouldn't believe the amount of first years who mix bad potions and their hair falls out." He slapped a small sheet of parchment on the desk in front of them and then stood up. "I'm going to be in my study," he said. "If you have any questions, send me an owl. When you've finished the five batches, you can go."

And without another word, Snape rose up from his chair and walked out of the door. It slammed tightly behind him. Both Pansy and Hermione shrugged at each other and then made their way over to Snape's ingredients and began plucking bottles off of the shelves.

"How's life as a Slytherin?" Hermione asked. "Has Draco mauled you yet?"

"As if," Pansy told her as she set three bottles carefully onto Snape's desk. "I have complete control over that boy."

Hermione glanced at her out of the corner of her eye and wondered why that didn't seem the case when she had been acting as Pansy.

"Speaking of Draco," Pansy went on, he told me about a little incident the two of you had in the secret room?"

Hermione felt her face heat up, and she turned away from Pansy so that the other girl wouldn't see her blush. "I was just in there studying. I've never found such a quiet place."

"Well, it certainly wasn't quiet when Draco found you there," Pansy told her. "You better stay away from the dungeons when you don't have to be there. After I made that appearance as you in the Common Room, he's become completely paranoid over Gryffindors infiltrating Slytherin territory, no matter how stupid it actually is."

"I won't go in there again, trust me," Hermione promised. "I should have taken the hint when he showed up that one night before we switched back. You better watch him more closely or he's going to go insane trying to figure out what's going on."

"Don't worry about him," Pansy assured her. "I'll take care of Draco. You just stay away from him. You're freaking him out."

Hermione smiled softly as she placed her bottles next to the ones Pansy had brought over before. It amused her that she had gotten to him... and not as Pansy, but as herself. "I'll stay away," she told Pansy. "I've had enough of his mood swings to last me the entire year."

* * *

At five after eight, Pansy raced to the library with her backpack slung over one shoulder. When she reached the third floor she searched for Ron's red hair and spotted it at a small table in the corner.

"Hey," she said as she reached him.

He frowned at her. "What took so long?"

"We had to mix five batches of something. It took forever. You're lucky I'm here now." Pansy sat down opposite of him and pulled out her Care for Magical Creatures text book and notes.

"Okay," he said. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

"I'll write, you talk," Pansy decided, shoving her notes in his direction.

Together, they worked on the essay and in no time, it was nearly done. In fact, Pansy was quite pleased at their partnership and was sure they had done an excellent job. She quickly scrawled the last sentence and then put their names on the top of the parchment. "There," she said. "We're done."

"Good!" Ron agreed. "I'm beat. It's already ten, and I've got other homework that's due tomorrow, as well."

Pansy rolled up the parchment and stuffed it into her backpack. "Me, too," she said. "Well, I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Ron nodded and watched as she stood up. "Wait a second," he said before she could walk away.

Pansy looked at him curiously. "What is it?"

"Last week... when we were talking about the Christmas Holiday... why did you look so sad about it?"

Pansy didn't know how to reply. She didn't expect that Ron would remember such details. "My family just isn't very... warm or in the Christmas spirit," she explained, which was the truth. Hearing about how Ron's family all gathered together had made her feel jealous.

"Oh," he said. "I'm sorry about that."

Pansy didn't know what to say back to him. It wasn't like he was going to invite her over for Christmas. "Don't worry about it," she said. "I'll be fine. It's only for a few weeks, anyway. After that, it's back to school."

Ron nodded. "Yeah," he said as he stood up and put his backpack over his shoulder. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow in class."

Pansy smiled at him weakly and then watched as he walked down the library stairs. "See you," she said.

* * *

On Thursday morning, Hermione awoke to a tapping noise. She opened her eyes and sat up, trying to orientate herself. Her eyes went to the window where a small owl tapped its beak against the glass.

"Oh!" she said, quickly climbing out of bed and rushing over to the window to let the owl inside. She unwrapped the letter from its leg and then reached in a small jar under the window for a treat. After the owl took the treat and flew back out the window, she shut the window securely and then took the letter back to her bed.

_'Dear Hermione,_

_'Your father and I are going to a dental conference in London for the first week of your Christmas Holiday. I hope you don't mind staying at school during this time. Once we are back from the conference we can celebrate our Christmas then. Please reply back so I know that you've received this message. We love you very much, and hope you have a happy Christmas there at school._

_'See you soon,  
Mom and Dad'_

Hermione folded the letter back up and put it on her nightstand. While she would definitely miss spending Christmas day with her family, she was in a way, glad. Now she would have the time to work on her Arithmancy project without having to take books out of the library to bring with home with her. She'd get a ton done and wouldn't have to worry about it during the second half of her break when she spent time with her family.

Smiling slightly, she put her head back down on her pillow and promptly fell back asleep.

* * *

"I don't get it," Ron said during breakfast that day. "Your parents are going to some conference for the first week of our holiday, and you want to stay here? Why won't you just come and spend Christmas at the Burrow?"

"I told you, Ron," Hermione said as she stuck her fork into some hash browns. "No offense, but it's not going to be easy to do my Arithmancy at your house. There's just too many people and I need some space. It's a really difficult project."

"You really are a spoiled sport," Ron grumbled, and Harry nodded his head in agreement. "We'll think of you sitting in the library while we're eating Mum's Christmas dinner."

"Don't worry about me," she told them. "After the first week, I'll be with my family. I won't be missing out on anything. All I'll be doing is getting my homework done early so I can relax for the rest of the break. I hope you two have fun doing your homework at the last minute like you always do."

"We will," Harry spoke up. "Just don't complain when you miss out. We'll have to owl you your presents this year."

Hermione sighed. "You guys act like I'm abandoning you or something. "It's just two weeks. Geez."

Across the room, Hermione's eyes met a pair of bright silver ones, and she quickly looked away. She couldn't help but wonder how Draco would be spending his holiday break in the castle.


	16. Chapter 16 Before the Break

**Author's Note: Well, I did it... Chapter 16 is ready for you! I hope to have Chapter 17 by next weekend, but if it's not there, don't panic! I'll have it soon! Thanks again for all of the lovely reviews. You guys make my day :) I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! Things are gonna get really messy starting with Chapter 17... heheh...  
**

* * *

**  
Time For a Change   
Chapter Sixteen   
By: Lori Finnegan   
2007**

The day dragged on for Draco. He was confused, and frustrated, and most of all, angry. He couldn't understand what was going on, and it was driving him crazy. In fact, he was almost looking forward to a quiet Christmas holiday at the castle. He'd be free from all of his friends and have a chance to think things through without being interrupted.

And he was still wondering what Granger had to do with his troubles. All he knew currently was that her presence annoyed him greatly. So when he arrived two minutes late to Arithmancy, and the only seat left was next to her, he didn't hide his displeasure.

Professor Vector shot Draco a look and then pointed to the seat next to Granger. "Please take a seat, Mr Malfoy," she insisted.

Draco reluctantly sat down in the seat next to Granger and pulled his charts out of his backpack, flopping them onto the table.

"As I was saying before I was interrupted," Professor Vector went on, shooting a pointed look at Draco. "I would like to know which students are staying at Hogwarts over the Christmas break. Will you please raise your hands?"

Draco looked to the other side of the room to see one Slytherin hand rise into the air. And next to him, Granger raised her hand halfway.

"Excuse me, Professor," she said. "But I'm only staying for part of the break."

"That's just fine, Miss Granger. Please keep your hand raised."

Draco looked away from Granger and raised his own hand. In front of him, two Gryffindor hands rose as well.

"Hmm," Professor Vector pondered as she counted the hands. "Just six of you this year..."

Draco turned slightly to see Millicent Bustrode in the back of the Slytherin side with her hand in the air.

"I'd like you to pair up," the professor went on. "I have a special project for the six of you over Christmas break. And I know that some of you may not be overly excited about having extra work over your holiday, but there are great rewards."

Draco stared at her, almost suspiciously. He wondered what kind of rewards she was talking about.

"Yes," Professor Vector said in an excited voice. "The pair that has the best report will join me for a conference in London where we will meet up with other top students and discuss many complex Arithmancy problems."

Even though Draco wasn't looking directly at Granger, he could tell that she was having trouble containing her excitement. This was the kind of thing that bookworm lived for. He, himself, wasn't all that excited about it.

"So, who would like to participate?"

Granger's hand was the only one that shot up. Most everyone else, including Draco, raised their hands reluctantly. The only reason Draco would consider such a nuisance was the fact that his father would be impressed. After being kicked out of Malfoy Manor for the Christmas Holiday, he wanted to prove to his father that he was worthy.

Draco was so busy planning out how he would tell his father about going to such an impressive Arithmancy conference, that he didn't realize that everyone else had already paired up. And when he looked around him, he realized that the only other person who didn't yet have a parter was Granger.

"I guess we'll have to be partners," she told him softly.

Draco glanced over at her and then focused his eyes back at the front of the room. "Whatever," he muttered. This was going to be one Christmas break from hell.

* * *

Harry and Ron were sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall eating lunch alone. They had both gotten out of Divination early and instead of waiting in front of the Arithmancy door for Hermione, they had opted to go straight to lunch as both of them were starving after such a long morning of studies. 

"You think it's weird that Hermione's staying here for her first week of break?" Harry spoke up when their conversation about the Quidditch game that was coming up that night had ended. "I would imagine she'd want to come to the Burrow again."

Ron scooped up some corn on his fork. "You know how she is with her bookwork. She's absolutely nuts when it comes to that kind of thing. Besides, it's her loss for missing out on Mum's homemade cooking."

Harry sighed and went back to his food. He still couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was different between the three of them... and he didn't think it was about the kiss that he and Hermione had shared the week before.

Then again, maybe he should talk to her about it... just in case.

* * *

"It's completely ridiculous," Draco told Pansy and Blaise across the room at the Slytherin table. "Not only do I have a ton of Arithmancy homework as it is over break, but now Professor Vector paired me up with that mudblood, Granger, and we've got to work on an extra project over the holiday." 

"Aw, man," Blaise sympathized. "You've been having the worst luck lately, mate."

"Tell me about it," Draco groaned. "Instead of going to my first Malfoy Christmas Eve party, I'll be writing Arithmancy charts with Granger."

"Oh, it can't be all that bad, Draco," Pansy told him, giving him a pat on the back. "It's not like you'll be spending your whole break with her."

"You're right," Draco agreed. "I won't have to spend all day with her. In fact, I should suggest each of us doing the project on our own and then combining our efforts later on. That way I'll spend the minimal amount of time with her."

"You're so pathetic," Pansy grumbled as she stirred a lump of sugar into her tea. "What makes you think that studying with Hermione is going to be so horrid? She is the smartest girl in our class, after all."

Draco turned and looked at her sharply. "And since when are you on a first name basis with Gryffindors?"

Pansy looked back at him, unflinching. "What does it matter?" she asked. "You are so immature sometimes, Draco. Honestly."

"Maybe," he admitted. "But you're not the one stuck here for two weeks. Do you realize how bored I'm going to be?"

"Find a hobby," she suggested.

"You could work on your flying," Blaise put in. "When Potter comes back from break after no practice, you'll completely kick his ass during the next game."

This intrigued Draco. He would give anything to beat Potter on the Quidditch field. He'd done it before, but somehow, no matter how much those Gryffindors lost, they all still worshiped the ground that Potter walked on. It was incredibly annoying to Draco.

"You're right," he told Blaise. "I'll make the best of my time."

Blaise nodded with a smile, and Pansy rolled her eyes. But Draco didn't care. He'd show them all... and Potter would be crying like the big baby he was when all of it was over with.

* * *

Hermione rushed into the Great Hall hoping she had made it in time to eat at least a little of something for lunch. Instead of going straight to lunch after Arithmancy, she had instead stayed after class to ask Professor Vector a little more about the the report that they'd be working on over the break. 

As she approached the Gryffindor table, she saw that Harry, along with several other Gryffindors, where the only ones left eating.

"There you are," Harry said, looking up at Hermione as she sat down besides him. "I didn't think you were coming."

"Where's Ron?" Hermione wondered.

"He had to grab some books from the dormitory," Harry explained. "He said he'll meet us in class."

"Oh," she replied as she quickly filled her plate with all of her favorites. "Are you excited for the game tonight?"

"A little," he shrugged. "We're playing Ravenclaw tonight. Everyone's pretty confident we'll win."

"I'll be rooting for you," Hermione replied, giving him a warm smile.

It was silent for a moment while Hermione quickly ate her lunch.

"You know," Harry said after a few minutes. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

Hermione looked up at him. "Oh? What is it, Harry?"

Harry looked down at his empty plate, and Hermione could see a slight blush in his cheeks. "Remember last week, when we decided that everything would go back to normal?"

Hermione's eyes widened as she stared at him. Back to normal? The only thing that she knew that wasn't normal was the fact that Pansy was pretending to be her during that week. What could have possibly happened?

He glanced up at her. "Things have just been a little awkward lately, so I want to make sure that everything is still okay," he said.

"Awkward?" Hermione echoed. "How so?"

"After what happened," Harry went on, "And with Ron not knowing... I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Hermione was still completely confused as to what he was talking about. "I'm just fine," she told him, playing along. She would definitely have to ask Pansy about this later.

"It's not the reason why you're staying here for the first week of the holiday instead of coming to the Burrow with us, is it?" Harry asked, glancing over at her carefully.

"No, not at all," Hermione told him. "When I said that I wanted to work on my homework, I really meant it. And Professor Vector just piled on an even bigger workload."

"Oh," Harry said, finally meeting her eyes and looking relieved. "Well, I'm glad you're not upset about anything. It makes me feel a lot better. I just couldn't have spent the whole break knowing that you had chosen to stay here because of me."

"That's not the case at all, Harry," she said, smiling at him gently. "Don't worry about me. You just go have fun at the Burrow and everything will be just fine when we're all back here."

Harry smiled back at her. "Thanks, Hermione," he said.

* * *

During Potions, Hermione leaned towards Pansy. "Anything happen between you and Harry last week?" she whispered. 

Pansy's face turned red as Professor Snape tapped his wand loudly against his desk. "Miss Parkinson, Miss Granger, if you have something to say, please share it with the whole class," he demanded.

Hermione shook her head and Pansy froze.

"Then I suggest staying quiet for the remainder of the class," Snape told them.

After Snape's attention was off of the two of them, Hermione pulled out a notebook and wrote a big question mark on the first several lines of the paper and slowly pushed it in Pansy's direction.

Pansy took her quill and wrote, '_Why?_'

Hermione wrote, '_Because he's been asking me if I'm okay with what happened last week. I have no idea what he's talking about!_'

Pansy's quill hovered above the paper for a moment before she wrote, '_Hate to break it to you, but Harry's got it bad for you. Last week he told me. So that's probably what he's talking about_.'

Hermione's heart felt like it had fallen into the pit of her stomach. After she collected herself, she grabbed the notebook back and wrote, '_Are you serious?_'

Pansy wrote, '_Dead serious. But the two of you decided to forget about it so that everything could go back to normal. I had the impression that it was done and over with_.'

"Pay attention," Snape said in a loud voice, loud enough to snap Hermione out of her thoughts, if only for a moment. She stared at the front of the room while Snape wrote several ingredients on the board. But all she could think about why Pansy hadn't told her about this earlier.

* * *

That evening, Draco, Pansy and Blaise, along with Crabbe and Goyle trailing behind them, took a seat in the Ravenclaw side of the field. It was a known fact that all Slytherins always rooted for the team that was playing against Gryffindor, as the two teams have always been longtime rivals... especially when it came to Quidditch. 

"This game better be exciting," Pansy complained as they sat down on a vacant bleacher near the top of the stands. "I better be seeing some blood."

"Just relax," Draco told her. "If Gryffindor loses this game, then we play Hufflepuff next. And we all know how easy they are to beat."

Pansy propped her chin up on her hand and leaned forward on her knees. She wasn't even going to pretend to be interested this time.

A few minutes into the game, and she was already overly bored.

"I'm going to go walk around a bit," she told Draco and Blaise. "I'll be back in a little while."

Blaise nodded, and Draco was too busy yelling obscenities at Gryffindor players as they zoomed by on their brooms. Pansy rolled her eyes and stood up from the bench, pushing past the cheering Ravenclaws until she got to the stairs. She was walking past the large tents that the teams got ready in and as she turned to look at them, she collided right into something hard. Luckily, she was able to catch her balance before completely falling to the ground.

"Would you watch where you're going?" she yelled to the person who was on the ground in front of her feet. "I could have fallen in the snow."

But that was when she realized that it was Ron Weasley that she had just plowed into.

"Me?" he exclaimed, pulling himself to his feet and brushing the snow from his pants. "You were the one who walked right into me!"

Pansy frowned at him. "I didn't see it was you," she told him.

He looked at her for a moment, speechless, and then opened his mouth. No words came out.

"Maybe we should both watch where we're going," she concluded when he didn't say anything for several moments.

"Fine," he spat out. "What are you doing out here, anyway?"

"Draco dragged me to the game with him," she replied. "He's rooting against you guys, as usual. I was just so bored out of my mind that I had to get away."

"I wasn't bored, exactly," Ron admitted. "I just needed to get some air."

"Looks like we had the same idea," Pansy agreed. "Hey, you wanna walk around the grounds with me?"

Ron lit up. "Oh," he said. "Sure."

"No one will see us," she put in. "Everyone's at the game."

Ron brushed off a little more snow from the sleeve of his coat and followed Pansy along the path behind the Ravenclaw stands. "So," he said, after they had walked in silence for a few minutes. "You're going home for the Christmas Holiday, right?"

Pansy nodded. "Yeah, it's no big deal. My family is pretty small so usually it's just me and my mum. Sometimes my great uncle comes over and a few of my cousins, but that's only on Christmas day."

"That doesn't sound all that fun," Ron commented.

"It's not really," she confirmed. "But you gotta love your family, right?"

"Right," he agreed. "You're right."

They walked past the north side of the castle and into the field that led to the Forbidden Forest. The sky was the same color white as the snow, and the only thing that stood out were the tree branches. Together, they walked along the well beaten path along edge the Forbidden Forest.

"I was thinking," Ron spoke up. "That maybe you'd like to come out to the Burrow for part of the break. There's always room for one more, and since Hermione isn't coming this year, it won't be a problem at all."

Pansy's eyes widened at his sudden invitation. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea," she said immediately. "Don't you think your family and friends might be a little suspicious?"

"Maybe," Ron admitted. "I was just thinking about you being alone for most of the break..."

"Don't feel sorry for me," she interrupted. "This is my life, and I'm perfectly used to it."

"I didn't mean it like that," Ron said, and he met her eyes for a moment. "Okay, so maybe we're not best friends or anything, but... after last week... I just look out for people I care about. That's all. Really, that's all."

Pansy felt herself smiling at him, and she patted him on the back. "It's okay, Ron. Thanks for the offer, but I should really go spend some time with my mum."

"Thanks though," she said, and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. However, it didn't quite turn out the way she had planned. Just as she was about to press her lips to his freckled cheek, Ron suddenly turned his head slightly, and her kiss landed right on the corner of his mouth.

They both jumped away from each other quickly.

"Why did you turn your head?" Pansy demanded.

"Why did you kiss me?" he countered, his face turning bright red.

Pansy's eyes were wide. "I meant to kiss your cheek," she told him. "If you wouldn't have turned..."

"Well, I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I was going to tell you that if you changed your mind, you could owl me."

"Oh," she said, looking away. "Right. Maybe we should go back to the stands. We're pretty far out as it is."

Ron nodded, and they turned around and made their way back to the Quidditch field in silence. When they were once again behind the stands that they had literally run into each other, Ron stopped walking and Pansy turned to look at him.

"I'll owl you if I change my mind," she told him. "Who knows how boring it'll get."

Ron smiled at her. "Sure. See you later on, okay?"

"Yep," Pansy smiled back, and then turned around, heading back for the Ravenclaw stands to meet up with Draco and Blaise. And when she squeezed into her seat between them, she could see Ron's red head on the other side of the field, climbing up the stairs into the Gryffindor stands.

She stared at him as she leaned against her knees. And no matter how many times she ran the scene through her mind, she couldn't possibly believe that she had shared a kiss with Ron Weasley, no matter how accidental it was.

* * *

"You were sure gone for a long time," Ginny mumbled as Ron took a seat next to Hermione in the stands. "I thought you said you were going to get a drink. Where is it?" 

Ron shrugged. "I drank it."

"Oh."

Hermione looked over at Ron. "It's pretty chilly out today," she said, changing the subject and wrapping her scarf tighter around herself. "I hope Harry doesn't get frostbite."

"Madam Pomfrey has a quick draft for frostbite," Ginny chimed in. "Don't worry about him."

"You okay, Ron?" Hermione said, trying again. "You're being awfully quiet today."

"I'm fine," he assured her, but when Hermione followed his gaze, she could see it was focused somewhere in the Ravenclaw stands. He must have been pretty distracted if he was staring like that during a Quidditch game.

"Oh, look, Ron!" she exclaimed, clutching his jacket. "Harry's caught sight of the snitch!"

Ron's eyes were finally pried away from whatever it was he was staring at, and he looked up as Harry chased the snitch across the sky. "Go, Harry!" he yelled, and Hermione smiled, glad that Ron was out of his daze. For the time being, anyway.

* * *

"Harry, you were awesome out there!" Dean Thomas called as the Gryffindor players were pulled into the Common Room by the crowd. Hermione followed them in, keeping her distance from the noisy pack. Instead, she watched Ron and Ginny climb through the door, cheering along with the others. 

Once everyone was inside the portrait hole, well, everyone besides Hermione, she looked down the empty hallway and thought about tomorrow, when the whole castle would be even more empty. Part of her was excited for the change, but even so, she would miss her friends.

Hermione shrugged and made her way through the portrait hole and into the party that was ensuing within.

Ginny grabbed her arm immediately and pulled her through the crowd to the other end of the room. "Are you okay, Hermione?" she asked. "You seem a little dazed."

"I was just thinking," Hermione admitted as she looked over at Harry and Ron who were holding large glasses of Butterbeer and chatting excitedly with their house mates.. "How things have changed."

"What do you mean?" Ginny wondered. "Everything looks normal to me."

Hermione gave her a look. "I know it seems that way," she said. "But ever since... things have been, you know, back to normal, I haven't really felt as though they have been normal."

Ginny flopped down on a couch at the back of the room. "Don't tell me you miss being a Slytherin," she said, as though the answer was obviously no.

Hermione thought about for a moment. "Well, not exactly," she told Ginny. "I just feel so... unresolved."

"You're going to have to be a little more specific. I have no idea what you're talking about."

Hermione fell against the chair opposite from Ginny with a sigh. "Don't think I'm crazy, okay?"

Ginny narrowed her eyes at her. "Well, that depends. Does this involve Malfoy?"

Hermione groaned and leaned against the arm of the chair. "He is so messed up, Ginny, you have no idea."

"Oh, no," Ginny said, and Hermione opened her eyes to look at her friend. "You're not trying to save Malfoy, are you?"

"He is a miserable, miserable person..." Hermione went on.

Ginny crossed one leg over the other and looked over at Hermione, unamused. "You got that right," she said. "Miserable, indeed."

"It's just that I've never met someone who was so... lost and... pathetic."

"Hermione," Ginny said, suddenly leaning forward. "I have some advice for you."

Hermione looked up at her cautiously.

"Stay away from Malfoy. I know you like to help people, but he's definitely out of your reach. Besides, he doesn't even know it was you pretending to be Pansy for a week or so. He's just going to think you're crazy, and you're the one who's going to get hurt."

"You're right," Hermione sighed. "But it's going to be a little hard to stay away from him since we're doing an Arithmancy project together over break."

"Just pretend you never discovered this other, even more miserable side of him. He's still the same jerk that you've always known... and not even you can change him."

Hermione nodded, but Ginny hadn't seen him without his guard up. She didn't know how he really was. And yeah, maybe he was a jerk, but he couldn't be as bad as Ginny thought he was.

"I have detention at eight," she said, looking down at her watch and then standing up from her seat. She gave Ginny a small smile. "Don't worry about me. I'm not going to turn into a Slytherin or anything. Well, not again." She laughed slightly when Ginny frowned at her. "Tell Harry I said congrats... and if anyone asks, tell them I went to bed for the night."

"Will do," Ginny said with a wink.

Hermione walked towards the girls' dormitories and then, right before the entrance, she weaved her way back into the crowd and went towards the door. She looked over her shoulder once more before slipping out, and to her delight, not one person was watching her.

* * *

It was getting late and Harry decided to leave the party that was still raging in the Common Room and turn in, when he noticed that Hermione was no longer around. "Hey," he said, nudging Ron, who was on his fourth Butterbeer. "Did you see where Hermione went?" 

Ron shook his head. "Ask Ginny. I saw her talking with Hermione earlier."

Harry nodded and pushed his way through several other Gryffindors until he made his way to where Ginny sat talking with several other girls. "Hey, Gin," he said, and she turned to look up at him. "Did you see where Hermione went?"

Ginny pointed to the girls' dormitories. "She went to bed. She told me to tell you congrats, though."

"Oh, okay. I'm gonna head to bed too, actually. Have a good night, girls."

Lavendar and Parvati blushed as they gave little waves to him, and when Harry turned around, he rolled his eyes. He took the steps up to the dormitories two at a time. He opened the door to his dormitory and shut it securely behind him before let down his guard.

No matter how many times he tried to convince himself that he didn't have feelings for Hermione, he simply could not make them go away.

But there really wasn't anything he could do.

Right?

* * *

Friday morning, the last day of fall term before Christmas break started, Draco quickly filled in the last few spaces on his Arithmancy chart as he sat in the Slytherin Common Room and waited for his friends to emerge from their rooms. 

He didn't have to wait long. When he was at the second page of his Arithmancy charts, Pansy stepped out of the girls' dormitories and walked up to him. "Arithmancy..." she mumbled as she looked down at his papers. "Looks confusing. I'm glad I dropped that class last year."

"It's not so bad," Draco shrugged. "If you follow the formulas, it's actually pretty easy."

Pansy stretched out over the a chair and looked up at the ceiling as Draco watched her. "Where were you last night after the game?" Draco wanted to know. "You ran off before Blaise and I were even out of the stands."

"I had a lot of homework to do," she said, not bothering to look at him. "Besides, you know that Quidditch isn't exactly my favorite past time."

"You sat through most of the game," Draco pointed out. "Well, besides that time you got up and left for like thirty minutes. What were you doing?"

Pansy turned her head to look at him sharply. "What is this, twenty questions?"

Draco met her eyes for a moment and then looked back down at his homework. "Just curious," he told her. "We haven't really talked much lately, is all."

Pansy blinked at him. "Sorry, I've just been a little busy," she told him. "We'll catch up after Christmas break, okay?"

Draco nodded. "We better."

Pansy gave him a quick smile.

* * *

Harry put his parchment on Professor McGonagall's desk and turned around. He went back to his desk and gathered his things, noticing that Hermione was just finishing up her last essay on the exam. So when he was outside of the room, he waited in the hallway until she emerged. 

"That was more challenging than I expected," she told him. "It's a good thing I reread the chapter several times yesterday."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, even though he didn't think he'd gotten through the entire chapter once. "Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" Hermione asked as they walked down the hallways towards the greenhouse for their Herbology class together.

Harry took in a deep breath. "Are you sure you want to stay here for a week?"

"Harry," she sighed. "I've already told you that I have several projects to work on while I'm here. I've already committed myself to them, and I can't back out now."

"I just feel bad," Harry said. "I feel like it's my fault that you're staying here."

"Don't be silly," Hermione told him. "I was going to go visit my parents this year anyway before I found out about their dental conference. And when this Arithmancy project came up, I jumped at it. It has nothing to do with you, trust me."

Harry looked over at her and studied the side of her face, trying to tell if she was sparing his feelings. "If you're sure," he said. "I just had to make sure myself that I wasn't the reason you weren't coming."

Hermione gave his shoulder a little shove. "Honestly, Harry, if I say I'm sure, I'm sure! Why would I lie to you?"

Harry smiled at her. "You wouldn't," he said.

* * *

Draco had paired with Blaise for the final Herbology project before Christmas break. Together, they sat at the end of the long greenhouse table with their plants in front of them. 

"If you ask me," Blaise said, pointing to one of the small plants. "This one is the one with the healing property."

"Hey," Draco mused, not hearing a word he was saying. "Have you noticed that Pansy is acting a little... strange lately?"

Blaise put down his notebook and looked over at Draco. "This is a test," he said. "Would you pay attention?"

Draco leaned forward over the table, his chin in his hand. "I am paying attention," he insisted. "It's just that I think she's keeping something from me. I've been suspicious of her for several weeks."

"Draco..." Blaise sighed. "Nothing is going on with Pansy. If she was having some sort of trouble, don't you think she'd at least tell one of us?"

"You would think," Draco contemplated. "But now I'm not so sure."

"Eh hem," Professor Sprout cleared her throat as she walked by the two of them. "Are you finished with your test?"

Blaise looked up at her. "Not quite," he said.

Professor Sprout looked down at her watch. "Twenty more minutes, boys. Hurry it along," and then walked away from them.

"Trust me," Draco whispered to Blaise. "Something is going on."


	17. Chapter 17 Another Change

**Author's Note: ...heh... well, hey guys!!! Here I am! I feel super bad for not having anything to post for a while. I went through a sort of writer's block with this story... which I'm still in, but I DO plan on continuing this story. I will finish it, I promise! The chapters just might come a little slowly for a while... and for that, I'm sorry. Thank you again for all of your wonderful reviews, and I really hope you like chapter 17. It took me a LONG time to write!  
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* * *

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Time For a Change  
Chapter Seventeen  
By: Lori Finnegan  
2007

Since Professor Snape had given their potions exam several days earlier, the sixth year class was stuck studying the next unit on their last day before Christmas Break. So while Snape busied himself in his personal potion closet next to desk, the students were expected to answer questions from the back of chapter ten and write them on blank pieces of parchment.

Pansy was still feeling a little odd from the Quidditch game yesterday. It bothered her that her mind was obsessed with one stupid event that hadn't even happened on purpose. She glanced over at Hermione who was incessantly writing towards the bottom of her parchment since the top half was already filled with her tiny, neat handwriting.

She wanted so badly to talk to someone about her frustrations, but somehow, throughout school up until now, she had lacked a female friend. She certainly wasn't going to tell Draco, that was for sure.

"Psst," she hissed to Hermione, nudging her lightly.

Hermione looked over at her. "What?" she whispered.

"I want to talk to you about something," Pansy whispered back.

"Right now?" Hermione gave Pansy a look as if she were crazy. "During class?" She glanced over at Snape's desk to make sure he wasn't glaring at them.

Pansy leaned closer to Hermione as Snape closed the cabinet doors and turned around to face the class. "Meet me after class in the library. The usual spot."

Hermione nodded and then went back to her assignment. It wasn't as easy for Pansy as her thoughts trailed right back to where they were before their conversation had started. Reluctantly, she lowered her eyes back to her text book and tried to concentrate on the essay questions.

* * *

Draco was still feeling depressed about spending a whole two week vacation alone at school with Arithmancy with Granger as his only preoccupation. He wasn't trying to listen in on other people's conversations, but when he heard Pansy trying to converse with Granger, his ears immediately perked up. At first he assumed she was asking for help on a question, but as he leaned forward in his seat, listening hard, he realized that this was not the case. 

They were meeting in the library after class? The usual spot?

What the hell?

He leaned back into his seat and attempted to take everything in slowly.

It wasn't working.

'The usual spot?' he thought again. What in the world did that mean? Like they had been meeting before, or something?

He crossed his arms over his chest in frustration as he stared down at the backs of their heads. Well, there was only one thing he could do about this... he would have to follow them into the library and find out exactly what this little meeting was regarding.

At exactly two o'clock, Draco shoved his things into his backpack, pushed past some Slytherins that sat near the front and slapped his assignment onto Snape's desk. He was out of the room even before the Gryffindors, and luckily, it was passing time, and he found good cover behind a fourth year with a giant backpack. So when Pansy and Granger emerged from the room, one after the other, Draco stayed back and followed them all the way to the library.

He watched as they took a seat at a table on the third floor in the corner of the room. In order to not be seen, he crept behind the shelf next to their table and sat down on the floor by the wall, pulling out a book and pretending to read it so no one passing by would be suspicious.

Through a slit between the books, he could see Granger sitting down at the table across from Pansy. "So, what is it?" she asked.

Draco pulled his knees up and rested the book on them as he leaned towards the bookshelf, trying to get a better view through the books. He could only see Pansy's face from where he was sitting, and the back of Granger's head.

"I thought I should tell you about something," Pansy said, and by the look on her face, it seemed to be something serious. Draco wondered what it was that she could tell Granger the mudblood about but couldn't tell him. "It has to do with..."

"What the hell are you doing sitting on the floor?"

Draco jumped and looked up at Weasley who stood in front of him.

"I would have thought Malfloys were too good to sit on the dirty floor," he said. "But I guess I was wrong."

"Bugger off, Weasel," Draco told him. "Who invited you to interrupt my studying?"

Weasley stared at him for a moment. "You're in my way," he said. "You could at least move over. I'm looking for a book in the section you decided to sit in front of."

Draco glared back at him. "It's too bad I was here first," he said. "Now, bugger off, already!"

"You don't own this library," Weasley countered.

"Doesn't matter. I'm not moving."

The two of them stared at each other, neither one willing to budge, until Potter walked up behind Weasley and caused him to turn his head away. "I was wondering what was taking so long," Potter said. "Get out of the way, Malfoy."

"Or what?" Draco snarled. "I was here first. Get lost."

"Get the hell up, Malfoy," Weasley said again. At that point, Draco had caught a glimpse through the books and noticed that Granger and Pansy were no longer sitting at the table.

Furious, he stood up and pushed past both boys without an explanation. And as much as he hated to do as he was told, especially by Weasley and Potter, he had to find out where Pansy and her new friend had gone off to.

* * *

"That was a close one," Hermione said. The two of them had relocated to the third floor of the library when they had heard some sort of fight between their friends in the isle next to their table. "Can you imagine if they heard us talking?" 

Pansy gulped. Yeah, she could imagine. It would have been really bad if all three guys had her confession. She nodded as Hermione held the door to the restricted section open for her. Turns out, Madam Pince had given Hermione a permanent pass due to her constant intense studying. Pansy guessed that it would probably get annoying being asked for a pass almost every single day.

Within the restricted section, it was dim and completely quiet. They sat down in a table at the far end and propped their backpacks up against their chairs.

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Pansy said again once they were settled. "I don't have any girl friends to talk to, so I guess you come the closest to fitting into that category."

"What's going on?" Hermione leaned forward, looking interested in what Pansy had to say.

Pansy took a deep breath. "It's Ron and Harry."

Hermione blinked at her. "What about them?"

"Things... kinda happened..." she admitted, looking away from Hermione. "Remember when I told you that Harry kinda... admitted his feelings to you? Well, he wasn't really the only one who had feelings."

"Are you saying that you have feelings for Harry?" Hermione whispered in shock.

"I didn't mean to," Pansy replied. "It just sorta... happened. But that's not all."

Hermione stared at her.

"Now I'm starting to think I might have feelings for Ron, too."

"What!?" Hermione exclaimed. "Both of them? But... are you forgetting they don't even know we switched places? How is this ever going to work?"

Pansy looked away from her once again. "You're right... and I know that," she said. "I just had to tell someone. You're the only one who would understand, really."

Hermione took her hand and squeezed it. "Crushes are hard," she said in a voice that sounded like she had experience. "And sometimes there's nothing you can do about them."

"This sounds like a lecture," Pansy sighed.

"No," Hermione told her. "Just something I've learned."

Pansy smiled at Hermione and squeezed her hand back. "Well, I feel better now that I've told someone. Now all that you've gotta do is just promise not to tell the whole school."

"No problem," Hermione smiled back.

* * *

"Excuse me, Mr Malfoy," Madam Pince asked as Draco stopped dead in his tracks. He had been looking down each long row of books on the first floor of the library when she had stopped him. "What exactly is it that you're doing." 

"Looking for someone," he muttered. "You haven't happened to see Pansy Parkinson, have you?"

Madam Pince looked at him for a second without saying anything. "I should say not. Fifth period started ten minutes ago. My guess is that she's in class with all of the other students... except you, apparently, Mr Malfoy."

Draco cursed under his breath and then rushed away from Madam Pince, hoping she hadn't heard him. But by the time he was out in the hallway and racing to get to Herbology before Professor Sprout locked the greenhouse door, he didn't even care. All he cared about was that he had missed Pansy and Granger's whole secret conversation because Potter and Weasley had gotten into his space.

It was hard to imagine what the two of them would have in common, but with all of Pansy's odd behavior lately, nothing about her really surprised him anymore. It was just hard to place Granger into that picture. First she had burst into the Slytherin Common Room, later he found her alone in the secret dungeon hiding place that he had previously thought that only he and Pansy had known about, and then later he caught her staring at him in the middle of Care of Magical Creatures.

Now, it wasn't uncommon for Granger to look at him every now and then, but before it had been glares, or looks of contempt. No look she had ever given him before had been like the one he had received the other day. Instead of glaring, she had been looking at him thoughtfully.

A little too thoughtfully for his liking, that was for sure. The whole idea made him completely uncomfortable.

He pushed open the greenhouse door and took his seat next to Blaise as quietly as he could without disrupting the class.

"Where were you?" Blaise leaned over and whispered.

"Something is going on, like I told you before," Draco whispered back. "And call me crazy, but I think it has to do with Granger."

"Granger? Hermione Granger?"

"Shh!" Draco hissed, looking over at the Gryffindor side of the room just in case someone had been listening in. "And yes. I overheard Pansy talking to her in Potions and after class they met up in the library. Unfortunately, Potter and Weasley were there, too, and I wasn't able to hear their conversation."

Blaise gave him a small smile. "Draco," he said. "Maybe you're acting a little paranoid over this whole Pansy thing. I mean, why in the world would she be up to something with Hermione Granger?"

"I'm just telling you what I saw," Draco insisted.

"But they are potions partners. Have you stopped to think that maybe they were talking about class stuff?"

Draco thought for a second. "There's no way that conversation was about Potions," he decided. "And think what you want to think, Blaise, but I'm going to get to the bottom of this. It's just too bad today's the last day before break."

Suddenly Draco sat up in his seat and smiled at the ugly brown plant in front of him. He had almost forgotten that he'd be spending part of the break working on an Arithmancy project with Granger... Perhaps the break wouldn't be such a waste after all.

Blaise stared at him. "Uh oh," he muttered. "I know that look..."

* * *

"Ugh!" Ron groaned as the creature sprayed water into his face. He wiped it away with his sleeve just in time for the thing to jump into his lap. "This stupid thing!" he exclaimed. "What is it doing to me?" 

Pansy giggled as it nuzzled up to Ron. "I think you found a new pet," she told him. "Hope your roommates don't mind."

"I suspect they will," Ron speculated as he tried to pry the thing away from himself and back into its cage. Once it was back inside and the lock was securely fastened, Ron began picking white hair from his sweater. "It sheds like mad!"

Pansy helped him to pick the hairs from his sweaters, but when she looked over his shoulder, she could see a set of silver eyes narrowed in their direction. She knew Draco had a problem with Ron, but this was ridiculous. I mean, it had been Hagrid who had paired them, after all. So, she simply looked away from him and put her nose in the air. She wasn't going to let him get to her.

"Thanks," Ron said, blushing when they had gotten most of the hair off of him. "I guess that's a no for a new pet then..." he concluded.

"Alright, folks," Hagrid announced, clapping his hands several times so that the students would pay attention. "Get yer creatures back inta their cages. I'm lettin' ya out early because a the holiday."

Several cheers sounded out and Pansy noticed a few of their classmates taking off towards the castle. Before she knew it, it was only she and Ron sitting on the cement in front of the cages.

"If ya won't mind, Ron, would you an' Miss Parkinson help nab up the critters?" Hagrid asked as he grabbed two at a time near the Gryffindor side of the class area and gently put them into their separate cages.

"Sure," Ron nodded, springing to his feet and walking over to try and coax more creatures into their cages. "It's okay little guy," he said, holding his hand out. "Come to Ron."

Pansy stood and watched as the creature timidly walked up to Ron and allowed him to pick it up. She couldn't believe he was so good with animals. She never would have guessed it before. It was then that her mind went back to yesterday afternoon... and she remembered the kiss that she had planted on the corner of his mouth. Though, it wasn't as though she had forgotten. Such a kiss wasn't easy to forget.

"You okay, Pansy?"

Pansy blinked her eyes and realized that Ron and Hagrid had gathered the rest of the creatures. "I'm fine," she said, watching as Hagrid waved to them as he walked back to his hut. "Just thinking about going home," she lied.

"Oh," Ron said, looking away. "Yeah, two whole weeks at home, huh."

"Not really looking forward to it," she admitted. "But I do miss my mom. I just wish I had a more exciting family sometimes."

"We should trade or something," Ron said with a slight chuckle. "My family is the exact opposite."

Pansy smiled at him and then began walking towards the castle, looking back at him. "I better get my things together. You coming?"

"Yeah," Ron agreed, following her up the hill.

It was at the top of the hill and near the entrance to the castle where they stopped to look at each other. Pansy knew that once they went inside, she'd go one way and he'd go the other... and she'd be left for two whole weeks to contemplate her feelings. So, with one quick look around, making sure that no one would see, she leaned in towards him and placed a quick kiss right on his lips. And when she pulled away, he was staring at her, shocked.

"What was that for?" Ron wanted to know, his breath seemingly caught in his throat.

She said the first thing that came to her mind. "I won't see you for two weeks."

"So, you just... kissed me?"

"Look," she said, getting a little pissed off at his reaction. "Don't make such a big deal out of it."

Ron stared at her for a moment. "Well, what am I supposed to think?"

"Maybe that you're my friend?" she shot back at him. "Have you thought that?"

He continued to stare at her, his face turning a slightly deeper shade of red. "I've never kissed Hermione like that," he said. "Or at all, actually."

"Hermione is a prude," Pansy decided. "Most girls like to show their feelings."

"I guess I don't know that many girls," Ron muttered.

"You probably don't," she agreed. "Anyway, like I said, I have to go pack. I hope you have a happy Christmas, Ron."

But before she could go, he leaned back in and pressed his lips to hers just one more time. "Happy Christmas to you, too, Pansy."

* * *

Draco's fingers clutched the side of the tree that he stood behind. When he finally removed them, he noticed small drops of blood dripping onto the snow. 

The whole side of the castle was deserted. He was the only one left. But it wouldn't have mattered anyway. After he had seen Pansy lean in and kiss Weasley, he wasn't all that interested in who saw him anyway.

He shoved his hand into the pocket of his robes and walked back to the school. At least now he knew what Pansy had been hiding.

* * *

Hermione wrapped her arms tightly around Ron, and then Harry, pulling back and grinning at them both. "You guys have a good Christmas," she told them, sincerely. "Go eat lots of Mrs Weasley's food and send me some of that homemade candy she always makes, too." 

"Will do, Hermione," Harry promised. "But you have to promise to send us an owl if you're going crazy here by yourself."

"I'll write often," she told him. "Now, go on, or you'll miss the train!"

"Happy Christmas, Hermione," Ron said before picking up his things and then following Harry to the portrait hole. "See you in a bit, okay?"

"Okay, Ron," Hermione replied giving them a wave. "Happy Christmas, boys."

* * *

By the time Draco got back to the Slytherin Common Room, it was almost completely empty. There was one Slytherin boy listening to music by the fireplace and no trace of Pansy Parkinson. He walked through the room and went to the back hallway where he knew he could see over the fields. As he leaned against the window sill and peered out, it, too, was empty. 

And that's when the loneliness set in.

Not only had his family abandoned him, but so had his best friend. He couldn't understand why Pansy would be attracted to someone like Weasley, but either way, the idea of her kissing anyone one else other than himself stung him from the inside out.

Angry at himself and the world, he tore away from the window sill and went straight to his dormitory. Even if someone had been looking for him that night, he wouldn't have come out for anything.

But no one came.

* * *

The next morning, Hermione woke bright and early, ready to start on her Arithmancy project, but no matter where she looked, she couldn't find Draco. He hadn't been at breakfast and even though she often saw him studying by himself in the library, he wasn't there either. 

Then again, it was a Saturday morning. Perhaps he was still sleeping. So, she waited until eleven and then went to the Slytherin Common Room. Figuring she shouldn't just go barging in, as Pansy had done so nicely before in her body, Hermione knocked politely.

"Hello..." she called. "Anyone around?"

"Haven't you had enough of your trespassing?" The portrait that guarded the opening asked her. "I've heard wild stories about you."

Hermione looked right back at it. "I'm not sure it's any of your business," she said, and then knocked again, this time a little bit harder. "Are you in there, Malfoy?"

The door swung open so quickly that she jumped back in surprise. But the Draco Malfoy that she saw standing in front of her was not quite the Draco that she had remembered. There were dark circles around his eyes and his hair was messier than she had ever seen it before. And all he had on was a white t-shirt and green pajama pants.

"Can I help you with something, Granger?" he asked. "Quickly, preferably."

Hermione felt her cheeks heat up at the sight of his pajamas. "Well," she said, looking away from him. "I was thinking that since I only have a week here, we should probably get started on our Arithmancy project early."

Draco stared at her for a moment. "Do you realize what time it is?" he finally spoke. "Not all of us are bright and chipper in the morning as you seem to be."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said quickly. "Well, why don't you meet me in the library later. What time do you think you'd be... more bright and chipper?"

"Eleven o'clock," Draco told her. "Now, if you don't mind..." He didn't give her a chance to reply before he slammed the door in her face.

After Hermione had recovered from his sudden departure, she shrugged and made her way to the library. Just because Draco needed a little extra beauty sleep than she did, didn't mean she shouldn't get started on the project.

* * *

Draco, oddly curious of what a vacation studying with Hermione Granger would be like, kicked off his covers and sat up in bed, brushing his hair away from his eyes. Besides, his number one goal was to find out what was going on not only with Granger and Pansy... but now he wanted to know more about Weasley. Draco didn't know who the hell Weasley thought he was, putting his hands all over Pansy, but the next time he saw the man, he wouldn't be surprised if Weasley were to end up hexed. 

He stretched, yawning loudly, and then threw on some clothes. With one quick glance in the mirror to make sure his hair looked okay, he left the room and started for the library. And it didn't take long for him to arrive; his strides were long as he walked down the halls of Hogwarts.

He paused, right as he reached the library, and then went in quickly, determined. When he saw Granger sitting on the first floor at a table directly in the middle of the room, he walked over to her and plopped his Arithmancy books down in front of her. "Here at your beck and call, Granger," he said, flashing her a smile, but not letting it stick too long. "As if. Now, let's get this over with so that I can actually do something decent over break."

Granger chuckled into her coffee. "Does it involve brushing your hair in front of the mirror for hours?" she suggested. "Or perhaps you enjoy staring at your reflection down by the lake instead."

Draco stuck his bottom lip out at her. "Are you implying that I'm self centered?" he demanded.

"I'm afraid I don't need to imply something that's blatantly obvious," she said, setting down her coffee cup and flipping through the book in front of her.

Draco reluctantly sat down across from her at the table and folded his arms over his chest. "I should have protested," he mumbled.

"Excuse me?"

"I said," Draco said, raising his voice slightly so she could hear, "when Professor Vector paired us together for this project, I should have protested. I guess I wasn't thinking quite clearly."

"Whatever," Granger replied, waving him off with her hand. "Open your book and show me your notes."

"Sure," he relented, shoving them in her direction. "Let's get this over with. You take one part, and I'll take the other. Then we'll meet in a week to put it all together. Deal?"

She looked up at him slowly. "How about we assign topics to work on tonight, and then we meet again tomorrow morning to go over them?"

Draco glared at her slight smile, but the more he stared at her, the less angry he felt. There was something about the look on her face right that that seemed not only very non-Granger like, but also very familiar. He just... couldn't quite place it.

Granger passed his notes back to him. "What are you staring at, Malfoy?" she wanted to know. "I would think after sleeping so late, you'd be a little less out of it."

He quickly blinked his eyes and then narrowed them at her. "That I'd like to get out of here, if you don't mind," he told her. "So, please tell me my topic so that I can get the hell out of here."

Granger rolled her eyes and flipped his book open. "Here you go," she said, pointing a slender finger at the first page of the fifth chapter, shoved it towards him and then began packing her things up. "Meet me here tomorrow at eleven to go over everything."

Draco bended the corner of the page over, closed it, and shoved it into his own bag before looking up at her briefly as she pushed in her chair and then walked away from their table without saying goodbye.

He stopped at the kitchen and grabbed a bag lunch... or breakfast, in his case, before returning to the Slytherin Common Room. He took a lonely seat in front of the fireplace before spreading out his sandwich and pumpkin juice and then opening his Arithmancy book. As he took bites of his sandwich, he poured over the information on the topic that Granger had assigned to him.

It was actually quite interesting, he thought as he scribbled down some notes on the margins of the text book. The numbers all added up to equal something of great significance... and it inspired him to keep going. He didn't want to admit it to bookworm Granger, but he was actually enjoying the assignment.

Not to mention the work kept his mind off of Pansy and her disgusting kiss with that muggle- loving Weasley twerp.

* * *

Hermione spent her time in the library, looking over her Arithmancy, as well... but her mind was clouded and she was having trouble concentrating. Draco's outward appearance towards her now was troubling... and it bothered her that he thought he had to put up such a horrible front in front of most everyone he came in contact with. She wondered if she could find a way to break through that shell and convince the real Draco to emerge. 

It seemed almost impossible to do so, but Hermione had a week. Besides, the Draco she had come to know while she spent the short amount of time as a Slytherin was worth the work.

* * *

Ron shoved a forkful of homemade steak pie into his mouth and chewed rigorously. "This is the best, mum," he said, waving his fork at Mrs Weasley. "Seriously, the best." 

Harry nodded in agreement, filling his own mouth the the delicious meat. Even though Hogwarts' food wasn't anything less than fantastic, there was nothing like Mrs Weasley's home cooking. Harry felt a little spoiled, even.

Ginny smiled at him from across the table, and Harry wiped the gravy from his mouth with his napkin.

"It's no trouble, boys," Mrs Weasley told them as she busied herself with picking up some dishes and then placed them into the sink. "I'm always glad to fill empty stomaches, that's what I always say, anyway."

"Top notch, is what I say!" Mr Weasley agreed from the head of a table as he shot a wink at his wife. "Top notch, as always!"

Mrs Weasley blushed lightly. "Thank you, dear," she said modestly and then took her own seat at the table. "So, boys... Ginny, how has Hogwarts been treating you? Lovely, I'd imagine. You've all grown at least an inch since we've last seen you."

Ron nodded, as his mouth was full, and Harry smiled at her.

"Seems to be just fine," Ginny spoke up since she was the only one who didn't have a mouthful of pie. "Lots of work, as always."

"Good, good," Mr Weasley said before taking a drink from his glass. "That Dumbledore always knows how to make sure everyone's learning... wonderful man, I say!"

The rest of the lunch conversation went smoothly and soon, Harry and Ron were walking up the stairs to Ron's room, chattering about the Holiday festivities that would surely be surrounding the Weasley household soon.

"You seem very happy," Harry pondered out loud as Ron flopped on his bed and pulled out some old Quidditch books.

Ron didn't look up at him. "Why wouldn't I be?" he asked. "It's Christmas, Harry! Who's not happy on Christmas?"

"That's not what I meant." Harry sat down on a cozy armchair that was next to the bed and pulled his legs over the arm of it. "You seem really happy... happier than you usually are... well, at this time of year."

Ron looked up at him briefly. "Oh?" he said slowly before shifting his gaze back down to the book. "What do you mean?"

"I can't really describe it," Harry told him. "But something's changed about you. Did I miss something?"

For a long moment, Ron didn't say anything. But just after it seemed that the silence was getting a little uncomfortable, he finally sat up to face Harry. "Let's just say... I met a girl."

Harry gaped at him. "A girl?" he practically gasped. "Who!?"

Ron averted his gaze once again, but this time, a little secret smile played upon his face. "It's probably best that I don't say anything for the time being," he muttered. "Until things are... you know, more official."

After Harry recovered from the shock of hearing about Ron and his secret girlfriend, he lowered his legs from the arm of the chair and sat up straight. "You're not going to tell me?" he exclaimed. "Your best friend!?"

"All in good time, Harry. All in good time."

Harry didn't know whether to be happy for his friend or pissed that he was missing out on the details. Then again, at least Ron finally told him about it... even though it was barely more than a morsel of information.

But what had stopped him from saying it sooner?

"She must be really ugly," Harry decided, trying his best not to break out into a grin. If there was one thing he knew, it was how to get under Ronald Weasley's skin. "If you don't want to tell me about her, you must be really embarrassed."

Ron's face turned a familiar color of red. "Oh, it's quite the opposite!" he assured his friend. "Let me tell you, she is anything but ugly!"

Harry laughed at him. "Whatever, Ron," he said. "You just keep telling yourself that."


End file.
